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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 184:2, 

By George Watterston, 

In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the ])istrict 

of Columbia, 



7. ^0 



PETER FORCE, PRINTER, 
CORNER OF TENTH &, I) STREETS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The first edition of this work appeared in 
1840, and, though got up in haste, and conse- 
quently imperfect, it was found to be popular. 
The want of such a guide to our city had long 
been felt, and the author having been from 
childhood an inhabitant of Washington, wa? 
induced to undertake it, from his intimate ae- 
Ajuaintance with all its localities, improvements, 
progress, public and private institutions, and 
whatever concerned it. Much, however, from 
the haste with which it was prepared, was neces- 
sarily omitted, and to supply this deficiency a 
new edition is now issued. 

The present is almost a new work. The 
former edition did not contain one-third of the 
matter which this volume embraces. It has 
been greatly enlarged ; every thing of a tem- 
porary character has been thrown out, and 
that only which may be considered as perma- 
nent, retained. 



4 INTRODUCTION, 

The Metropolis must necessarily be an object 
of great interest to every American, whether 
a resident or not; and he cannot but feel anx- 
ious to know every thing that belongs to it. 
The information, therefore, which the author 
has endeavored to furnish, is as full, minute and 
accurate in relation to it, both as a city and as 
the seat of the Federal Government, as could 
be given, or perhaps desired ; and the work 
will not only serve as a complete guide to all 
who visit Washington, but make the reader at 
a distance well acquainted with the history, to- 
pography, condition of, and every thing of in- 
terest in the National Metropolis. It will be of 
great use to the stranger, by directing his atten- 
tion to the principal objects of curiosity and in- 
terest to be found in Washington, and guiding 
him from place to place, with a knowledge of 
its localities. 

The author acknowledges his obligation to 
Mr. Robert Mills, Architect of the Public 
Buildings, and to Mr. Peter Force, for the in- 
formation he has derived from them, and which 
he has embodied in this little volume. 



INDEX. 



Alms House or Asylum .- IJi^ 

American Historical Society 11^ 

Appendix : list of Executive Officers, «fec 213 

Apprentices' Library 101 

Arsenal 8(! 

Assessment of property 15S 

Attoi-ney General's office 196 

Auditor, First, duties of, &c , 188 

Second, do 183 

Third, do 184 

Fourth, do 184 

Fifth, do 185 

Bank of the Metropolis 133 

" Patriotic 133 

" of Washington 133 

Baptism of Pocahontas 47 

Benevolent Societies 132 

Boards of Aldermen and Common Council 150 

Board of Appeal 153 

Board of Health 164 

Boon and the Indians, conflict of, alto relievo.., 3b 

Bridges Htl 

Buildings, public, expenditures on 148 



6 INDEX. 

Page. 

Building Regulations, abstract of. 170 

Burgoyne, surrender of, painting 41 

Caiial, Chesapeake and Ohio 88 

" Washington 86 

Capitol 20 

Census of the District of Columbia 19 

" of the United States 220 

Churches 96 

Clergy of the city 138 

Columbian Institute 112 

Columbian Horticultural Society 112 

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company 88 

Corporation of Washington, Charter, &.c 149 

Congressional Burial Ground 71 

City Hall 81 

Circulating Libraries 101 

Colleges 107 

Convent of Visitation 109 

Columbia Typographical Society 120 

Charges d' Affaires 218-19 

Clork's office, House of Representatives 31 

Coal and Wood 154 

Collector of Taxes 154 

" office of. 85 

Cabs, &c., law relative to 159 

Comptroller's office, First 182 

Second 182 

Crypt of the Capitol 24 

Carusi's Saloon 145 

Commissioner of Patents 176 

Congress 202 



INDEX. 7 

Page. 
Congress, number of sessions and extra sessions of.. 203 

" Speakers of the House 203 

" How constituted 203 

Cornwallis, surrender of, painting 43 

Court, circuit 82 

" criminal 84 

«' orphan's 85 

Commissioner of General Land Office 186 

Court Room, Supreme Court 33 

City of Washington, history and description of. 13 

Committees of the Senate 206 

of the House 207 

Department of State 175 

" of Treasury 180 

of War 188 

" of Navy 194 

Dogs, tax on 155 

Declaration of Independence, picture of. 39 

District Court 83 

Executive Department of Government 172 

Engineer do. do 189 

Extract from the rules of the Senate 205 

Expenditures of the Corporation 152 

Epitome of the Population of the United States.... 220 

Flag of the United States 69 

Franklin Insurance Company 135 

Firemen's do 135 

Fire Companies .., 136 

Finances of the Corporation ,., 151 

Franking privilege, «&c 200 

Foot walks, law relating to 158 



8 INDEX. 

Factories 92 

Free Negroes and Mulattoes 156 

Funeral customs 141 

Foreign Consuls in the District of Columbia...., 218 

Gaming 159 

Guardians of the Poor 110 

General Post Office Building 63 

General Land Office 186 

House of Representatives, Hall of. 24 

Howard Society 132 

Hackney Carriages, law, fare, &c 159 

Hawkers and Pedlars 164 

Health, Board of. 164 

Hogs, law relating to 165 

History of Washington , 13 

Insurance Companies 135 

Jail, new 82 

Justices of the Peace 147 

King's Gallery 102 

Library of Congress 28 

" of House Representatives 27 

Landing of the Pilgrims 27 

Literature and Science 97 

Legal and Medical Professions 98 

Literary and scientific works 103 

Lunatic Asylum Ill 

List of the Presidents of the United States 174 

List of Executive and Legislative Officers 213 

Marine Barracks 70 

Military Companies 136 

Market Houses 87 



INDEX. y 

Page. 

TOT, office of. 86 

" howelected 150 

" compensation of. 153 

" list of, and how chosen 152 

Magazines and Pamphlets 199 

Medical Department 193 

Ministers, American 218 

" foreign 217 

Monument Society, Washington » 112 

Navy Depai-tment, building 61 

Duties of the Secretary 194 

Navy Yard 68 

Navy Yard Beneficial Society 132 

Navy Magazine 71 

Naval Monument 55 

Navy Yards in United States, cost of. 69 

Navy, historical sketch of. 194 

Newspapers, periodicals, «Scc 103 

National Institution 114 

Non-resident Merchants 1 65 

Nuisances 165 

Original proprietors of the city 14 

Officers of the Navy, how classed 69 

Orphan's Court 85 

Office of Treasurer 185 

" Register J85 

Ordnance Office l90 

Order of Odd Fellows, description of. 121 

Order of business in House of Representatives 208 

Preservation of Captain Smith, alto relievo 36 

Population of Washington 19 



10 



INDEX. 



ra,q:e. 

Population of tlie District 19 

" of the United States 220 

Patent Office, building 65 

Patents, law relating to 176 

Penitentiary of the District 80 

Penn's Treaty with the Indians, alto relievo 39 

President's House, description of, &c 57 

Public Schools ^ 106 

Poor, infirm and diseased Ill 

Peace and War, statues of. 21 

Police Officers of the city 166 

Post Office, city 85 

Pumps, Wells, Hydrants, &c 167 

President United States, powers and duties of 172 

Public Lands, laws relating to 187 

Purchasing Department, office of. 192 

Paymaster General's Office 192 

Potomac Bridge 86 

Public debt of the city 152 

Provident Association of Clerks 132 

Public and private property of the city 147 

Taxation on 119 

Valuation of private property 149 

Patriotic Bank 133 

Postmaster General's Office 196 

Postage, rates of. 196 

Queen of Portugal 15 

Quartermaster General's Office 190 

Rotundo, description of. 23 

Resignation of General Washington, picture of. 45 

Register of Wills, office of. 85 



INDEX. 11 

Page. 

Register of the Corporation, office of.... 85 

Recess of Congress 144 

Registers and Receivers of public moneys 186 

Senate Chamber, description of. 32 

Sculpture of the Rotundo.... 36 

Surrender of Burgoyne, picture of. 41 

" of CornwalHs, do 43 

Statue of Washington 51 

State Department, building 62 

Supreme Court, powers of, Sec 33 

Surveyor of the city, office of. 85 

Slaves, law relating to 158 

Shooting, do , 167 

Secretary of State, his duties, &c 175 

Subsistence office 192 

Society of Washington 138 

Sessions of Circuit Court 84 

" Criminal Court , 84 

Statues of War and Peace 21 

Secretaries of Legation 219 

Standing Committees of the House Representatives. 208 

" " Senate 206 

St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum 143 

Treasury Department, building........... 62 

Treasury Department, Secretary's duties, &c 180 

Tiber 88 

Tympanum of the Capitol ,. 20 

Taxes 168 

Trees, law relating to 170 

Temperance Societies , 131 

Union Literary Debating Society..... , 130 



12 INDEX. 

Page, 

Usages, customs, etiquette, &c 140 

Vice-President of the United States, powers and du- 
ties of. 174 

War Department, building 61 

Washington Orphan Asylum 148 

Washington Canal 86 

Washington Library 100 

Washington Assembly Rooms 145 

Washington National Monument Society 112 

Washington Benevolent Society 132 

Wards, division of. 151 

Work-houso of the city 110 



PREFACE. 



The curious documents below fell into the 
hands of the author after the body of the work 
had been printed, and rather than omit them, 
he has been obliged to place them in advance 
of the work, a portion of which they serve to 
illustrate. 

These are extracts from old land patents, da- 
ted as far back as 1663 and 1681, and will be 
found curious and interesting. They show that 
the classical name of Tiber was given to the 
stream which now bears that name, and which 
was afterwards occasionally called Goose Creek; 
and that a portion of the site of the city was 
called Rome, both given, I have no doubt, by 
one of the patentees, from the circumstance of 
his bearing the name of Pope. 

'^ June the 5th, 1663. — Layd out for Francis Pope of 
this Province, gentleman a parcell of land in Charles 
County, called Room, lying on the east side of the Ana* 
eostian river, beginning at a marked oak standing by ths 



PREFACE. 

river side the bounded tree of Captain Robert Troop, and 
running north by the river for breadth, the length of two 
hundred perches to a bounded oak, standing at the moutli 
of a bay or inlett called Tiber, bounding on the north by 
the said let and line drawn east for the length of three 
hundred and twenty perches to a bounded oak standing in 
the woods on the east with a line drawn south from the 
end of the former line untill you meet with the exterior 
bounded tree of Robert Troop called Scotland yard on 
the south with the said land, on the west with the said 
river, containing and now laid out for four hundred acres 
more or less." 

" June 5tk, 1663.— Layd out for Captain Robert Troop 
of this Province a parcell of land in Charles County 
called Scotland yard lying on the east side of the Ana- 
costia river, beginning at a bounded hickory standing by 
the water side and running north by the river for breadth 
the length of two hundred and fifty perches to a bounded 
oak, bounding on the north with a line drawn east into 
the woods for the length of three hundred and twenty 
perches to a bounded oak on the east with a line drawn 
south from the end of the former line until you intersect 
a parallel line drawn from the first bounded hickory on 
the south with the said parellel on the west with the 
said river containing and now laid out for five hundred 
acres more or less." 

By another instrument of writing, dated 5th 
of July, 1681, a patent was granted to one 
William Langworth for a tract of land lying in 



PREFACE. 

Charles County, containing six hundred acres, 
which had been taken up by his father, and 
which is thus described : 

" The Widows Mite lyeing on the east side of the Ana- 
costin river on the north side of a branch or inlett in the 
said river called Tyber. Beginning at a bounded cedar 
standing upon a point and running east north east for 
breadth up the said inlett to a bounded oak, the bound tree 
of Richard Pinner, for the length of one hundred ninety 
two perches, bounding in the east with a line drawn north 
from the said oake for the length of five hundred perches 
to a bounded oake on the north with a line drawn west 
from the end of the former line, the length of one hundred 
ninety two perches to a bounded oake that intersects a 
paralell line drawn south to the first bounded cedar on 
the west with the said paralell on the south with the said 
inlett containing and now laid out for six hundred acres 
more or less according to the certificat of survey thereof 
taken and returned into the land office at the citty of St. 
Maries, bearing date the tenth day of October one thou- 
sand six hundred sixty seven, and there remaining upon 
record togeather with all rights profits benefits and privi- 
leges thereunto belonging (Royale mines excepted)." 

This would appear to have been the farm 
afterwards owned by David Burns, one of the 
original proprietors of the lands now occupied 
by the city. At that time this portion of Ma- 
ryland was in Charles County; its capital the 



PREFACE. 



City of St. Mary's, and that part of the Poto- 
mac which bounds Washington to the west, was 
called Anacostia, the name afterwards given to 
the Eastern Branch. 



NEW GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 



THE CITY OF WASHINGTON. 

The site of this city was originally selected by 
General Washington, (from whom it derives its 
name,) as at that time the most central position in 
the United States, and the best suited for the Me- 
tropolis of the nation. None can possibly unite 
such picturesque beauty, or even surpass it in the 
salubrity of its climate. It is situated on the left 
bank of the Potomac and the right bank of the Ana- 
costia. It lies in latitude 38° 52' north; comprises a 
territoryof four miles square; is watered on the west 
by the Potomac, formerly called by the Indians 
Cohonguroton^ or River of Swans, which has its 
source in the Alleghany mountains, and, after 
meandering a distance of nearly four hundred 
miles, empties into the Chesapeake bay ; and on 
the south and east by the Anacostia or Eastern 
Branch river. These two fine rivers add to its 
natural beauty, and will afTord great facilities to 
its commerce. This city is encompassed by a fine 
range of hills, forming a natural amphitheatre, and 
covered in part with trees and underwood, and pre- 
senting to the eye verdant and cultivated slopes. 
These elevations afford beautiful sites for villas 
and private residences, and command the most ex- 



14 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

tensive and varied prospect of the District and sur- 
rounding country, and of the meanderings of the 
Potomac as far as the eye can reach. The ground 
on which it is laid out was originally in Mary- 
land, and ceded by that State to the United States 
on the 23d December, 1788. The original pro- 
prietors, Daniel Carroll, Notley Young, David 
Burns, and Samuel Davidson, surrendered their 
lands to be laid out as a city, and gave one-half of 
them to the Government of the United States, for 
the purpose of raising funds for the erection of the 
necessary public buildings. Three Commissioners 
were appointed in January, 1791, who proceeded 
to survey and plant the corner stone at Jones's 
Point, on the 1 5th of April, of that year; after which 
they staked out and laid off the plan of the city. 
The act for establishing the temporary and per- 
manent seat of the Federal Government passed on 
the IGth July, 1790, and the act to amend the same 
on the 3d of March, 1791. Deeds of trust were 
executed by the original proprietors to Thomas 
Beal of George, and John M. Gantt, by which 
they conveyed all their lands within the proposed 
limits for a Federal city, to be laid out into such 
streets, squares, parcels, and lots as the President 
of the United Slates should approve ; and the trus- 
tees were directed to convey to the Commissioners 
and their successors in office, for the United States 
iorever, all the said streets, and such of the said 
squares, parcels, and lots as the President should 
deem proper for the use of the United States. For 
so much of the land, as might be appropriated for 
the use of the United States, they were to pay at 
the rate of twenty-five pounds (sixty-six and two- 



SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 15 

thirds dollars) per acre, not including streets, and 
this was to be paid out of the proceeds of the sales 
of lots given by the proprietors. Major L'Enfant, 
a French engineer, was employed in 1791 to lay 
out and furnish a plan of the city ; but in conse- 
quence of some difference arising between him 
and the Commissioners, he was dismissed, and Mr. 
EUicot appointed in 1 792, whose plan varied ma- 
terially from that of his predecessor, and it was 
thought to the prejudice of one of the proprietors 
and of the city itself A part of the reservation 
on which the President's House is erected was, at 
an early period of the city, conveyed by the Com- 
missioners, and the conveyance ratified by the Pre- 
sident, to the GluEEN OF Portugal. 

The seat of the Federal Government was re- 
moved to this city in 1800, at the close of the ad- 
ministration of John Adams, and Congress as- 
sumed jurisdiction on the 27th of February, 1801. 
The laws of Maryland and Virginia, as they ex- 
isted prior to that period, were declared to be in 
force in the District, and to continue so till modi- 
fied or repealed by Congress. But few alterations 
have been made in those laws since, and the 
strange anomaly is presented of two distinct and 
incongruous codes of laws existing at the same 
time in the same District. 

The city of Washington, once called the Fede- 
ral City, is divided into squares, by streets running 
north and south, east and west, which are again 
intersected by diagonal avenues leading from one 
section of the city to another. These avenues are 
named after the different States as far as they reach, 
and are from one hundred and thirty to one hiai- 

Bl 



16 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

dred and sixty feet in widtli, including the pave- 
ment of twenty feet, and a gravel walk of thirty 
feet. The other streets are from seventy to a hun- 
dred feet wide, named numerically, as First street, 
Second street, &c., when they run from north to 
south, and alphabetically, as A street, B street, 
&c., when from east to west. It contains several 
public reservations and many open spaces, pro- 
duced by the intersection of the streets by the ave- 
nues, all of which give space and a free circulation 
of air to the city. The Pennsylvania avenue, from 
the Capitol to the President's house, was planted 
with Lombardy poplars, and a flag foot-walk laid 
on one side from the Capitol to Rock Creek, during 
the administration of Mr. Jefferson, who took great 
interest in ornamenting and improving the infant 
Metropolis. This fine avenue is now Macadam- 
ized between the points first mentioned, and forms 
one of the most beautiful streets in Washington. 

The city of Washington, according to the act of 
Maryland "concerning the Territory of Colum- 
bia and the City of Washington," is thus bounded: 
" The President of the United States directed a city 
to be laid out, comprehending all the lands begin- 
ning on the east side of Rock Creek, at a stone stand- 
ing in the middle of the road leading from George- 
town to Bladensburof; thence alon^ the middle of 
the said road to a stone standing on the east side of 
the Reedy Branch of Goose Creek; thence south- 
easterly, making an angle of sixty-one degrees and 
twenty minutes with the meridian, to a stone stand- 
ing in the road leading from Bladensburg to the 
Eastern Branch Ferry; then south to a stone eighty 
poles north of the east and west line already drawn 



SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 17 

from the mouth of Goose Creek to the Eastern 
Branch; then east, parallel to the said east and 
west line, to the Eastern Branch ; then, with the 
waters of the Eastern Branch, Potomac River and 
Rock Creek, to the beginning." 

The city extends from northwest to southeast 
about four miles and a half, and from east to south- 
west about two miles and a half Its circumfer- 
ence is fourteen miles; the aggregate length of the 
streets is one hundred and ninety-nine miles, and of 
the avenues sixty-five miles. The avenues, streets 
and open spaces contain three thousand six hun- 
dred and four acres, and the public reservations, 
exclusive of reservations ten, eleven and twelve, 
since disposed of for private purposes, five hundred 
and thirteen acres. The whole area of the squares 
of the city amounts to one hundred and thirty-one 
miUion six hundred and eighty-four thousand 
one hundred and seventy-six square feet, or three 
thousand and sixteen acres: one-half of which, 
fifteen hundred and eight acres, was reserved for 
the use of the United States, and the remaining 
half assigned to the original proprietors; fifteen 
hundred and thirty-six acres belonged to the United 
States. 

Attempts have been made by Congress from 
time to time to remove the seat of Government, but 
without success. It cannot be done without a 
breach of the Constitution, which declares that Con- 
gress shall "exercise exclusive legislation over 
such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as 
may, by cession of particular States and the accept- 
ance of Congress, become the seat of the Govern- 
ment of the United States." This territory has 
b2 



18 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

been ceded by Virginia and Maryland, and accept- 
ed by Congress as the permanent seat of Govern- 
ment; the compact has been made agreeably to the 
Constitution, is final, and therefore cannot now be 
abrogated without the consent of all the parties to 
the compact. 

Washington has improved as rapidly as could 
have been expected from its not being a commer- 
cial or manufacturing city. Of late the improve- 
ments have taken a direction north of F street, and 
are rapidly extending along Seventh street towards 
the northern boundary line. 

In 1814 Washington received a check, by the 
invasion of the British army, under the command 
of General Ross. The American forces, com- 
manded by General Winder, were defeated near 
Bladensburg, where they had been suddenly form- 
ed to meet the enemy. The British troops entered 
the city on the 24th of Au o-ust, 1814, and proceed- 
ed to set fire to the Capitol, President's house, two 
public offices, the fort at Greenleaf's Point, the 
workshops in the navy yard, with a sloop-of-war 
and public stores, and to several private dwellings, 
the most of which were consumed. The Govern- 
ment was put to some inconvenience for the want 
of accommodation, inconsequence of this destruc- 
tion of the public buildings. An attempt was then 
made to remove the seat of Government, which 
failed. Confidence was again restored, improve- 
ments took a fresh start, and have continued to 
move forward, more or less rapidly, ever since. 

The population of this city, white and black, was, 
in 1800, 3,210; in 1810, 8,620; in 1820, 13,247; 
in 1830, 18,837; and in 1840, 23,304. Washing- 



SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 



19 



ton has been lately pronounced by a statistician of 
Europe, to be the healifdest city in the world. 

The following' table is given as one which may 
be interesting to the citizens of the District of Co- 
lumbia. 



"IVXOJ. 


23,364 
3,069 
7,312 
8,459 
1,508 


's 


Insane and Idiot White, - - 14 
Insane and Idiot Colored, - - 7 

Universities, 2 

Number of Students, - - - 166 
Academies and Grammar Schools, 26 
Number of Scholars, ... i,389 
Primary and Common Schools, . 29 
Number of Scholars, ... 851 
Number of Scholars at Public 

cliarpe, - - - - 482 
Number over 20 years of age who 

cannot read and write, - 1,033 


i 
> 
< 


•[BiOX 


1,713 
622 

785 

1,074 

300 


1 


•aiBuia^ 


1,064 
357 
458 
630 
127 




•aiBW 


m >0 »- 'T CO 
T CO (M TT 1^ 

CO rr CO TT « 


1 


Q 

O 
O 

Ed 
Ec) 

dS 


•inoi 


4,808 

2SS 

1,403 

1,627 

235 




•aiBiuaj 


2,859 
147 
814 
963 
125 


1 


^ ^ § S 2 

•aiBJV a.^ -1 vo CO ^ 


i 
■^ 


1 
% 


•l^o.L 


^ § S tg s 

'^^ °x 1 »-. <^ 

CO -. «:, >o 




Engaged in Agriculture, - - 384 
Engaged in Commei-ce, . - 240 
Engaged in Manufactures and 

Trades, .... 2,278 
Engaged in Navigating the Ocean, 126 
Engaged in Navigating Lakes and 

Rivers, .... 80 
Engaged in Learned Professions, 203 
Deaf and Dumb White, - - 8 
Deaf and Dumb Colored, . . 4 
Blind White, . _ - . 6 
Blind Colored, .... 9 


•aiBmaj[ 


8,647 
861 

2,834 

3,010 

483 


i 

2 


•^i'''^ 1 1 % S " 


1 




Washington City - 

Do. County 

Georgetown - 

Alexandria City - 

Do. County 



RECAPITULATION OF THE SEVERAL CENSUSES. 



Tear. 

1800 

1810 

1820 

1830 

1840 



b3 



Free Whites. 
10,066 
16,079 
22,614 
27,563 
30,657 



Free Colored. 
783 
2,049 
4,039 
6,152 
8,361 



Slaves. 
3,244 

5.895 
6,379 
6,119 
4,694 



Total. 
14,093 
24,023 
30,032 
39,834 
43,712 



20 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

THE CAPITOL 

Is a magnificeHt and massive edifice of freestone, 
built according to the Corinthian proportions, and 
situated on a beautiful eminence nearly equidis- 
tant from the Eastern branch and the President's 
house. Its north wing was commenced in 1793, 
the corner stone of which was laid in the presence 
of General Washington, and the foundation of the 
centre, March 24th, 1818. It is seventy-three feet 
above tide water, and covers an area of one acre 
and a half, and one thousand eight hundred and 
twenty square feet, exclusive of its circular enclo- 
sure or terrace. The length of the front is three 
hundred and fifty-two feet, depth of its wings one 
hundred and twenty-one feet, east projection and 
steps sixty-five feet, and west projection and steps 
eighty-three feet, and covers one and a half acres 
or eighteen hundred and twentj'-six feet. The 
height of the wings to the top of the balustrade is 
seventT^- feet, and to the top of the centre dome one 
hundred and forty feet. The whole cost of its 
erection up to 1827, including alterations and re- 
pairs, was $1,746,718 S3. It is now completed, 
and presents the most splendid and imposing archi- 
tectural mass in this, or indeed for the same object, 
in any other country. The eastern portico gives to 
this edifice a very grand and magnificent appear- 
ance. It extends the whole front of the centre. 
The pediment resting on massive Corinthian co- 
lumns of stone, the shafts thirty feet high, is in just 
proportion and fine taste. The tjTnpanum is orna- 
mented with an allegorical group in alto releivo, 
designed, it is said, by John Quincy Adams, and 



THE CAPITOL. "21 

executed by Signer Persico. The principal or 
central figure, elevated on a platform, represents 
the Genius of America holding a shitld, inscribed 
with the letters U. S, A. in her right hand. Be- 
hind is a spear. Her head is crowned with a star, 
and turned towards Hope, who stands on her leit, 
wnth her elbow resting on the stock of an anchor, 
and holding in her hand a part of her drapery. 
America directs the attention of Hope to Justice, 
holding the Constitution of the United States in 
her right hand, and in her left the scales.* Near her 
is an eagle in the act of winging her flight at the 
command of America. All these figures are colos- 
sal, and, considering the nature of the material, 
which is sand stone, do much credit to the skill of 
the artist. The entrance to the grand Rotundo, 
from the floor of this portico, is ornamented with 
two light and beautiful figures in stone, in the at- 
titude of crowning with laurel the bust of Wash- 
ington, which is placed immediately above the 
door. On each side of the main entrance are two 
colossal figures in marble, representing War and 
Peace, executed by Mr. Persico. 

The figure of Peace occupies a niche on the 
left of the main entrance, and that of War one on 
the right. They are both protected by a semicir- 
cular iron palisade, and both colossal. Peace 
holds in her left hand a fruit-bearing branch of tiie 

* A part of the arm of this figure, together with the 
Constitution she held in her hand, from the action of the 
frost or some other cause, gave way a few years ago, 
and fell on the steps of tiie portico and was broken into 
fraguienti?. 

b4 



22 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

olive, which she is extending towards War, while 
with her right she gracefully points to her bosom, 
indicating her sympathy for the condition of man- 
kind. Her countenance beams with sweetness and 
benignity. Her form rests gracefully on her left 
foot, her right knee being a little contracted, while 
the whole figure is beautifully draped. 

War is represented in the attitude of listening 
to Peace, his form resting on his shield, and his 
head somewhat inclined towards his companion. 
One hand rests on his sword, and the other leans 
on his shield. He stands with firmness, yet at his 
ease, and his costume is that of the ancient Roman. 
The toga is thrown over his shoulders, with a 
tunic or kirtle extending as low as his knees, the 
border of which, with his belt, is richly ornamented 
with the symbols of the victims offered to him in 
sacrifice. His countenance is firm and sedate, 
without any indication of rage or fury. His fea- 
tures are more Roman than Grecian, and his whole 
form exhibits great strength, physical power, and 
activity. 

Both these figures are original compositions, and 
intended to represent the idea of the people of the 
United States on the conditions of peace and war. 
Like the group in the tympanum, those figures 
were executed by Mr. Persico, by order of Con- 
gress. This artist is now engaged in Italy in 
executing two groups in marble to ornament the 
blocks on each side of the staircase of the portico. 
One is to represent the discover3^ and the other 
the early settlement, of this country. 

We now enter the 



THE ROTUNDO. 23 



ROTUNDO. 



This spacious room occupies the centre of the 
Capitol. It is ninety-six feet in diameter, and 
ninety-six feet high to the ceiling of the dome. 
This is topped or terminated by a cupola and ba- 
lustrade, accessible by means of a staircase passing 
between the roof and ceiling. From this elevation 
the prospect which bursts upon the eye is most 
splendid. Three cities are spread before you; the 
Potomac on one side and the Eastern branch 
on the other, uniting and rolling their waters to 
the ocean ; a range of hills extending in a magni- 
ficent sweep around you, and displaying all the 
richness and verdure of woodland scenery, with 
here and there beautiful slopes in cultivation, the 
whole colored by the golden beams of the setting 
sun, burnishing the reposing clouds, and gilding 
the tops of trees, or giving light and shade to the 
living landscape — form a scene which few por- 
tions of the earth can rival, and which none can 
surpass. The dome of the centre, though hemis- 
pherical, does not please the eye of a stranger ; it 
wants greater or less elevation to contrast agree- 
ably with the domes of the wings. 

The interior of the Rotundo is ornamented with 
alto releivos, sculptured in stone panels; four his- 
torical paintings by Col. Trumbull ; and one, the 
baptism of Pocahontas, by Mr. J. G. Chapman. 
Three other panels are vacant, but are soon to be 
filled up with paintings by three of the most distin- 
guished native artists. The subject of the sculptured 
panels are, 1st, the preservation of Captain Smith 
by Pocahontas; 2d, the landing of the Pilgrims at 
b5 



24 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Plymouth ; 3d, the conflict between Boon and the 
Indians ; and 4th, Penn's treaty with the Indians, 
The whole of these, which w^ill be more particu- 
larly described hereafter, are indifferently execu- 
ted, with the exception of the third, representing 
the Indian princess in the act of saving the life of 
Smith, which is more skillfully grouped and exe- 
cuted than any of the others. Stone pilasters or 
antce^ support the entablature and cornice, which 
are ornamented wdlh carved flowers and leaves in 
festoons and wreaths, within which are sculptured 
four medallions, representing the heads of Colum- 
bus, Sir Walter Raleigh, Cabot, and La Salle. 
The floor of the Rotundo, which is laid in Seneca 
stone, is supported by forty stone columns of the 
Doric order, and groined arches of brick. From 
its resemblance to the substruction of European 
cathedrals, it is called the Crypt. 

We pass from the Rotundo through a vestibule 
into the south wing, which contains the 



HALL OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

This magnificent apartment is in the form of an 
ancient Grecian theatre, ninety- five feet in length, 
and sixty feet in height to the most elevated point 
of the ceiling, and occupies nearly the whole area 
of the wing, from the second story upwards. 
Twenty-six massive columns and pilasters of Po- 
tomac marble, or breccia^ standing on a base of 
sand stone, the capitals of which arc of Italian 
marble, executed in Italy, support a magnificent 
dome with painted caissons^ to represent that of 



HALL OF REPRESENTATIVES. 25 

the Pantheon at Rome. From the centre of this 
dome is erected, to admit the light from above, a 
handsome cupola, richly painted and ornamented 
by a young Italian artist named Bonani, who also 
painted the ceiling, and who died in this city soon 
after it was completed. The Speaker's chair is 
elevated on a platform richly draped, and stands 
immediately in front of the north entrance. There 
are three doors leading into the Hall. The loggea, 
formed of columns and pilasters of Potomac mar- 
ble and stone, is behind the Speaker's chair, and 
serves as a promenade to the members during the 
session. Above this, and under a sweeping arch 
near the dome, extending from east to west, is 
placed the model of a colossal figure of Liberty, 
(in piaster,) by Causici. On the entablature be- 
neath the figure is sculptured in stone the Ameri- 
can eagle, in the act of taking wing, executed by 
another Italian artist (Valaperti) of high reputa- 
tion, who has left but this single specimen of his 
talents in this country, and who disappeared sud- 
denly and mysteriously soon after it was executed. 
Above the main entrance into the Hall stands a 
beautiful statue in marble, representing History 
recording the events of the nation. She stands in 
the attitude of listening, with her head turned on 
one side, a pen in one hand and an open book in 
the other, ready to write down the passing events. 
Her attitude is graceful and beautiful; her light 
drapery floats around her, and the winged car in 
which she stands seems to be in motion over the 
globe, on which is figured in basso releivo the 
signs of the zodiac. The wheel of the car serves 
as the face of the clock of the Hall, all beautifully 
b6 



26 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

designed and executed. The artist was Signer 
Franzoni, another meritorious Italian. Between 
the massive marble columns of this apartment is 
suspended in festoons fringed drapery of crimson 
marino from rods variously decorated. The gen- 
tlemen's gallery occupies the semicircle behind 
the range of columns, and that appropriated to the 
ladies and those gentlemen who accompany them, 
the upper part of the loggea, and above the Speak- 
er's seat. The portrait of Lafayette at full length, 
painted by a French artist, and presented to Con- 
gress during the last visit of that patriot to this 
country, (and a most admirable likeness of him,) 
decorates the panel on the west side of the loggea, 
while a full length portrait of the more illustrious 
Washington, and of the same dimensions, painted 
by Mr. Vanderlyn, occupies the panel on the op- 
posite side. Between the columns, at their base, 
are placed sofas for the accommodation of the mem- 
bers and those who are privileged to enter the 
Hall; and within the bar, in a semicircle fronting 
the Speaker's chair, are seated the members of 
the House, each of whom is furnished with a ma- 
hogany desk, an armed chair, and writing mate- 
rials. The entrances to the galleries are at the 
south end of the wing; and at the point on each 
side of the Hall, where the staircases diverge, is sta- 
tioned a doorkeeper, to prevent persons from pass- 
ing into the ladies' gallery, who are excluded by 
the rule, and to direct others who are not, the way 
into it, and also to the gentlemen's gallery oppo- 
site. There is also a passage to those galleries 
from the interior of the Hall, which leads through 
two lobbies. On the left of the eastern lobby are 



HALL OF REFRESENTATIVES. 27 

the Speaker's room and that of the Sergeant-at- 
Arms, and above the latter an apartment for bound 
documents and state papers, called the Library of 
the House, and kept by a clerk in the office of the 
Clerk of the House. At the same elevation in 
the western lobby are two commodious apart- 
ments, which are used as the depositories of Exe- 
cutive and Congressional documents not bound, 
and for immediate use. Below one of these, and 
on the floor of the lobby formed of an angle of 
the building, is the post office of the House. 
Between the Rotundo and the Hall of Represen- 
tatives is a small circular vestibule, which forms 
the landing place of the principal staircase in 
the south wing. It resembles a Grecian temple, 
and is surmounted by a dome and cupola. The 
caps of the columns are ornamented w^ith the cotton 
flant, instead of the acanthus leaf of the Greeks. 
A similar temple on the north wing rises from 
the first floor to the top of the building, and is 
surrounded by a range of columns, starting from 
the second floor, into the caps of which have been 
introduced the stock, leaf and flower of the tobac- 
co plant, which are not less rich and beautiful than 
the usual Corinthian ornament. It was the design 
of Mr. Latrobe, an artist of genius and taste, who 
once had charge of this building, to make it nation- 
al as far as was possible, by the introduction of ar- 
chitectural ornaments copied from the native pro- 
duction of this country. He did intend, moreover, 
to support one of the galleries of the Senate Cham- 
ber with emblematic figures of the old thirteen 
States, decorated with their peculiar insignia, and 
the models were actually prepared by one of the 
b7 



28 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Italian artists whom he had engaged to come to 
this country ; but a neglect or refusal on the part 
of Congress to make the necessary appropriations 
defeated his designs, and the plaster models were 
afterwards thrown aside and destroyed. 

Passing through the west door of the Rotundo, 
you enter 

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

This room is ninety-two feet in length, thirty- 
four feet in width, and thirty-six in height. It 
consists of twelve alcoves, supporting two galleries 
running along the whole length of the apartment 
from north to south, and containing the same num- 
ber of recesses as alcoves in the lower part of the 
room. The arched alcoves are ornamented in- 
front by fluted pilasters, copied from the pillars in 
the temple of Lys^crates at Athens. Two columns 
of freestone, with capitals like those of the pilas- 
ters, support the gallery near the main entrance, 
and two corresponding columns stand near the 
window which leads into the logged or western 
colonnade, extending the whole length of the apart- 
ment. Each end of the room, as well as the ceil- 
ing, is richly decorated with stucco ornaments and 
three wells or skylights, the wells of which, also 
richly ornamented, admit the light from above. A 
large room on the south, connected with this apart- 
ment, contains an extensive and valuable collection 
of law books exclusively, and a room adjoining it 
is used by the Judiciary Committee. The library 
room was designed by Mr. (*. Bulfinch, then archi- 
tect of the public buildings, and does great credit to 



LIBRAKY OF CONGRESS. 29 

his taste. The foundation of this library was pur- 
chased in 1815 of Mr. Jefferson, and consisted of 
about seven thousand volumes, for which he re- 
cieved twenty-three thousand dollars. The num- 
ber now amounts to nearly thirty thousand volumes, 
exclusive of duplicate copies of journals, docu- 
ments, lav.'s of the United States, &c., which oc- 
cupy the recesses in the galleries. It was origi- 
nally placed under the charge of George Watters- 
ton, who was appointed librarian by Mr. Madison 
in 1816, and who superintended its removal three 
times. The present librarian was appointed by 
General Jackson in the year 1829. The libra- 
rian is appointed by the President of the United 
States solely, though an officer of Congress, tin 
enters into a bond for the faithful discharge of his 
duties, which is deposited in the office of the Secre- 
tary of the Senate, and is governed by rules adopted 
by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of 
the House of Representatives, who have the power 
to make or modify them at pleasure. A joint com- 
mittee of the two Houses is charged with the pur- 
chase of books, out of an appropriation of five 
thousand dollars, which has been annually made 
for some years past, and which thus contributes to 
its gradual increase. The library is arranged 
into classes according to Bacon's division of science, 
and embraces forty-four chapters. It contains many 
rare, valuable, and splendid volumes. The first 
library of Congress was collected under the direc- 
tion of Dr. Mitchell, Mr. Gallatin, and others, and 
consisted of about three thousand volumes, before 
it was destroyed by the British army, on the 24th 
of August, 1814. It was originally under the su- 
b8 



30 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

perintendence of the Clerk of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, who employed some one to take charge 
of it during the session. It had been gradually in- 
creasing for nearly fourteen years, and was much 
resorted to at the early period of our city as a place 
of relaxation, in consequence of the want of other 
sources of amusement, and the absence of those din- 
ner parties and soirees which are so frequent in this 
city during the winter. The total loss of the libra- 
ry induced Mr. Jefferson to offer his collection to 
Congress, which forms the substratum of the pre- 
sent valuable library. His books may be distin- 
guished by a private mark. Whenever the prin- 
ter's signature occurs at the bottom of the page, as 
a J, he has put T before it, and when T occurs he 
puts J after it, so as to form the initials of his name. 
Several presents have been made to the library 
since its origin. Among these is a splendid and 
valuable collection of medals, designed by M. 
Denon, and executed by order of the French Go- 
vernment. The series commences in 1796 and 
ends in 1815, and embraces all the battles and 
events which occurred during the reign of Napo- 
leon Bonaparte. These are beautifully executed, 
and arranged with a small collection of American 
medals in Parisian bronze, in neat cases on either 
side of the mantlepiece, at the south end of the 
room. All of these were presented by Mr. Irving, 
the brother, it is said, of George W, Irving, who 
obtained them while in Paris, at considerable diffi- 
culty, and at a cost of five thousand francs. An 
original likeness of Christopher Columbus, pre- 
sented by Mr. Barrell, American consul at Madrid, 
and found by him in an old castle in Spain, is hung 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 31 

up on the south end of the room. Marble busts 
of Washington, Jefferson, Lafayette, Judge Mar- 
shall, John Gluincy Adams, Van Buren, and plas- 
ter busts of Jackson and Moultrie, and a medallion 
of Madison, most of them standing on pedestals, 
are placed in different parts of the room. 

The library is kept open during the session 
every day, except Sunday, from nine o'clock to 
three o'clock, and from five to seven o'clock, P. 
M., and in the recess, during the same hours, every 
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, in each week. 
Members of Congress, the President and Vice- 
President of the United States, Judges of the Su- 
preme Court, the Heads of Departments, Secreta- 
ries of the two Houses, Diplomatic Corps, and 
some few others, alone have the privilege of taking 
books from the library, and the time during which 
they are to be kept out is limited to one, two, or 
three weeks, according to the size of the volume. 

The rooms south of the library of Congress 
are occupied by the Clerk of the House of Repre- 
sentatives and his subordinates. To these offices 
you are directed by a spacious corridor, which 
runs along the east wall of the hbrary, and from 
which springs the principal staircase leading to 
the third story of the building; and by a smaller 
corridor or passage leading from the lobby of the 
House, meeting the larger corridor at right angles 
opposite the office of the Clerk of the House. This 
officer is elected at the beginning of every Con- 
gress, with the other officers of the House, but he 
is empowered to appoint his own clerks. 

Passing through the north door of the Rotundo, 
and the vestibule already mentioned, you enter 



32 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

THE SENATE CHAMBER. 

This room occupies the eastern section of the 
northern wing, is semicircular in its form, seventy- 
five feet in length, and forty-five feet in height. A 
light and beautiful gallery projects from the upper 
part of the semicircle, and is supported by iron 
columns and caps bronzed, and protected by an 
airy and elegant railing of the same material, A 
series of Ionic columns of Potomac marble, with 
capitals copied from those of the Temple of Mi- 
nerva, support the eastern gallery and form a log- 
gea below. The wails between small pilasters of 
marble, placed in the circular wall, are painted, 
and the whole is surmounted by a double ceiling, 
the lower one of which is enriched with square 
caissons of stucco, and from its centre is suspended 
a magnificent gilt chandelier with shaded lamps. 
The staircases leading to the galleries are narrow, 
dark, and altogether unsuited to so fine a room. 
The main entrance to the Chamber is through a 
vestibule or hall, which is handsomely carpeted 
and lighted from a small cupola above. There are 
three entrances to the circular and two to the east- 
ern gallery. On the west side of the building are 
the offices of the Secretary of the Senate, the access 
to which is through the hall or vestibule already 
mentioned. 

On the north side of this hall are two rooms, 
one occupied by the Vice-President, and the other, 
at the close of each session, by the President of the 
United States, when he comes to sign bills. 

Descending a flight of marble steps in the north 



COURT ROOM. 33 

wing, you enter, through a passage lighted by a 
lamp, the 

COURT ROOM, 

Occupied by the supreme judicial tribunal of the 
United States. It is immediately under the Senate 
Chamber, and nearly of the same form and dimen- 
sions, but much less light and elegant. The arches 
of the ceiling diverge like the radii of a circle from 
a point near the loggea to the circumference. The 
light is admitted from the east and falls too full 
upon the face of the attorney who may be address- 
ing the Court. This has, however, been some- 
what softened by transparent curtains and Vene- 
tian blinds. On the wall, in a recess in front of 
the bench, is sculptured, in bold relief, the figure 
of Justice holding the scales, and that of Fame 
crowned with the rising sun, pointing to the Con- 
stitution of the United States. On a stone bracket 
attached to the pier of one of the arches on the 
left of the fire-place, is a fine bust, in marble, of 
Chief Justice Ellsworth, and a similar bracket, on 
the right, is a marble bust of Chief Justice Mar- 
shall. The members of the bar are accommodated 
with mahogany desks and armed chairs within the 
bar, which is about two feet below the level of the 
floor of the loggea and lobby, and the audience 
with sofas, settees, and chairs. The Judges have 
each a mahogany desk and chair ; the Chief Jus- 
tice sits in the centre of the Associate Justices, and 
all are clothed, during the sitting of the Court, in 
black robes. 

The Supreme Court of the United States assem- 



34 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

bles annually in the city of Washington on the 
second Monday in January. This court has ex- 
clusive jurisdiction of all controversies of a civil 
nature where a State is a party, except between a 
State and its citizens, and betw^een a State and citi- 
zens of other States or aliens, in which latter case, 
it has original but not exclusive jurisdiction. It 
has such exclusive jurisdiction in all suits or pro- 
ceedings against Ambassadors, or other public Mi- 
nisters, or their domestics or servants, as a court of 
law can have or exercise consistent with the law 
of nations, and original, but not exclusive, juris- 
diction in all suits brought by Ambassadors or 
other public Ministers, or in which a Consul or 
Vice-Consul shall be a party. It has, also, ap- 
pellate jurisdiction from the Circuit Courts and 
Courts of the several States in certain cases, and 
has power to issue Avrits of prohibition to the Dis- 
trict Courts, when acting as courts of admiralty 
and maritime jurisdiction, and writs of mandamus 
in cases warranted by the principles and usages of 
law, to any courts appointed, or persons holding 
office, under the authority of the United States. A 
final judgment or decree in any suit in the highest 
court of law or equity of a State, in which a deci- 
sion could be had, where is drawn in question the 
validity of a treaty or statute of, or authority ex- 
ercised under the United States and the decision is 
against their validity, or where the validity of a 
statute of, or an authority exercised under any 
State is drawn in question, as repugnant to the Con- 
stitution, treaties or laws of the United States, and 
the decision is in favor of their validity — or when 
is drawn in question the construction of any clause 



COURT ROOM. 35 

of the Constitution, or of a treaty or statute of, or 
commission lieid under the United States, and the 
decision is against the title, privilege or exemption 
specially set up or claimed by either party, under 
such clause of the Constitution, treaty, statute or 
commission, may be reexamined and reversed or 
affirmed in the Supreme Court of the United 
States upon a writ of error, the citation being 
signed by the Chief Justice, Judge or Chancellor of 
the court rendering the judgment or decree com- 
plained of, or by a Justice of the Supreme Court 
of the United States, in the same manner, and under 
the same regulations, and the writ has the same 
effect as if the judgment or decree complained of, 
had been ordered or passed in a Circuit Court, and 
the proceeding upon the revisal is also the same, 
except that the Supreme Court, instead of remand- 
ing the cause for a final decision, may, at their 
discretion, if the cause shall have been once re- 
manded before, proceed to a final decision of the 
same, and award exemption. But no other error 
can be assigned or regarded as a ground of rever- 
sal in any such case than such as appears on the 
face of the record, and immediately respects the 
beforementioned questions of validity or construc- 
tion of the said Constitution, treaties, statutes, com- 
missions or authorities in dispute. 

The Judges, while in Washington, reside in the 
same house, for the greater convenience of consult- 
ation. 

On the west side of the basement story or first 
floor of the north wing, are the offices of the Clerk 
of the Court, directly opposite the court room, 
and separated from it by a corridor, which extends 



36 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

the whole length of the buildingj passing through 
the Crypt, from north to south. 

Entering the east door of the south wing, the 
first room to the left on the ground floor, is the 
room occupied by the " Committee of Claims." 

Returning to the Rotundo by the western en- 
trance, the productions of the chissel and pencil, 
which ornament that spacious apartment, claim a 
more minute description than has been given. 

I. PRESERVATION OF CAPTAIN SMITH BY POCA- 
HONTAS. 

The group in the panel over the western en- 
trance of the Rotundo, was executed by Signer 
Cappelano, who, like Causici, was a pupil of the 
celebrated Canova. This panel contains a group' 
of five figures, representing the moment when 
Captain Smith was in the act of being despatched by 
order of Powhatan, but was saved by the generous 
interposition of Pocahontas, the daughter of the 
Chief This design is partly taken from a rude 
engraving of this event in the first edition of Smith's 
History of Virginia. Captain Smith, attired in the 
military dress of the age, is represented reclin- 
ing on his elbow, with his body extended on the 
ground, ready to receive the death-blow from the 
war-mace of an Indian who stands near his head. 
The Chief, (Powhatan,) who is in the centre be- 
hind, is motioning with his hand, in consequence 
of the interposition of his daughter, who is hanging 
over Smith to protect him from the blow, to an- 
other Indian, who stands at the feet of the captive 
ready to assist his companion in completing the 



SCULPTURES. 37 

work of death. The war-mace of the Indian is, 
however, resting on his shoulder. AUhough the 
composition of this group is good, and the figures 
very well executed, yet there is an evident want of 
truth in their delineation and costume. The face 
and head-dress of Pocahontas are Grecian, and the 
features of Powhatan are less like an Indian than 
an European. The whole piece is certainly rich 
and ornamental; but the objections made, will, we 
think, strike any one who sees them, and may 
hereafter present no little difficulty, when the pro- 
gress of civilization, the increase of white popula- 
tion, and other causes, shall have reduced the chil- 
dren of the forest to a small and scanty remnant, 
in ascertaining which is the true representation of 
the Indian physiognomy, form and costume, from 
the specimens thus furnished by our artists. 

II. LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS ON PLYMOUTH 
ROCK. 

The subject intended to be illustrated by the 
group in the panel over the eastern entrance to 
the Rotundo, from the portico, is the landing of the 
Pilgrims. " The group consists of four figures in 
high relief — the Pilgrim, his wife and child, and 
an Indian. The former, in the costume of that age, 
is in the act of stepping from the prow of the boat, 
to receive from the hand of an Indian, in a kneel- 
ing attitude, on the rock before him, an ear of corn, 
held out by the latter in a most friendly manner. 
A mixed expression of hesitancy and gratitude is 
visible in the countenance of the Pilgrim, who 
appears to doubt the sincerity of the Indian. Be- 



38 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

hind in the boat, looking towards heaven with an 
eye and attitude of devotional gratitude for the de- 
liverance from the sufferings and hardships of the 
very age, stands his wife. Near her stands their 
little son, actuated by fear and wonder, holds his 
father's arm, and seems desirous to prevent his 
landing. The Indian is seated on the rock, just 
in front of the Pilgrim and the prow of the boat, on 
which is inscribed the year of the first landing, 
' 1620.' It is stated that this rock has been broken 
up into fragments, and part of it placed in the cen- 
tre of the town of Plymouth, where it is known by 
the name of • Forefather's Rock.' " 



III. CONFLICT BETWEEN DANIEL BOON AND 
THE INDIANS. 

The exploit of Daniel Boon, the Pioneer of the 
West, is illustrated in the panel over the south 
door of the Rotundo. The group consists of Boon 
and two Indians in a forest, the boughs of one of 
the trees are waving over their heads. Boon is 
represented in close conflict with an Indian, after 
having discharged his rifle at another, who lies at 
his feet in the agonies of death. The surviving In- 
dian is in the act of striking Boon with his toma- 
hawk, which he averts by raising his rifle in his 
left hand, while with the other, his arm drawn a 
little back to give force to the blow, he holds the 
*' long knife," with which he is about to despatch 
his savage antagonist. This and panel No. 2, were 
executed by Caucisi. The narrowness of the 
space, and the nature of the material in the last, 
give a clumsiness to the figures, which are colos- 



SCULPTURES. 39 

sal, that greatly injure the effect; but the design 
is good, and the execution bold and spirited. The 
incident commemorated by this piece of sculpture, 
is said to have occurred in the year 1773, and the 
likeness of Boon was taken from a portrait by 
Hardinge. 

IV. PENN's treaty with the INDIANS. 

The subject of the panel over the northern door 
of the Rotundo is the treaty held by William Pcnn 
with the Indians in 1682. Penn is represented 
standing under the elm, near Philadelphia, in the 
act of presenting the treaty to the Indians. An 
old chief carries in his hand the calumet or pipe of 
peace, and seems to be listening with attention to 
the talk of a younger Indian. Penn is dressed in 
the simple costume of a Quaker, with as much 
benevolence in his countenance as could be given 
in so rough a material ; but the execution of the 
group is less spirited than the others. The artist 
was a Frenchman, named Gevelot, 

PAINTINGS. 

I. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

This painting occupies the first panel to the 
right of the south entrance of the Rotundo. It is 
intended as an illustration of one of the most 
mem.orable events of our history. The time is that 
when the famous Declaration of Independence 
was reported by the committee to the House. The 
artist states that " in order to give variety to his 
composition, he found it necessary to depart from 



40 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

the usual practice of reporting an act, and has 
made the whole committee of hve advance to the 
table of the President to make their report, instead 
of having the chairman to rise in his place for that 
purpose. The silence and solemnity of the scene 
offered such real difficulties to a picturesque and 
agreeable composition as to justify, in his opinion, 
this departure from custom, and perhaps fact. The 
dresses are faithfully copied from the costume of 
the time." The place is the chamber of Congress, 
which is copied, Colonel Trumbull says, ''from 
the one in which they held their sessions at that 
time," and before the "spirit of innovation had 
violated its memorable walls by modern improve- 
ment, as it is called." He has also taken the liber- 
ty, he says, of embellishing the back ground, by 
suspending upon the wall military flags and tro- 
phies, taken from the enemy at St. John's, Cham- 
bly, &c., and were probably actually placed in 
the hall. 

The figures in this painting are forty-seven in 
number, all of them portraits taken from life, or 
from the best portraits extant of those who were 
dead. These paintings derive their value from the 
likenesses of the distinguished persons they contain. 
The following are the names of those whose por- 
traits are given. The names in those, and all that 
follow, referring to the outline heads in the key 
which accompanies each painting, and beginning 
on the left of the spectator, viz : 

1. George Wythe, Va. 5. Thomas Lynch, S. C. 

2. Wm. Whipple, N. H. 6. Richard H. Lee, Va. 

3. Josiah Bartlett, N. H. 7. Samuel Adams, Mass. 

4. Benjamin Harrison, Va. 8. George Clinton, N. Y. 



PAINTINGS. 



41 



9. William Paca, Md. 

10. Samuel Chase, Md. 

11. Lewis Morris, N. Y. 

12. William Floyd, N. Y. 

13. Arthur Middleton, S. C 

14. Thomas Hayward, S. C, 

15. Charles Carroll, Md. 

16. George Walton, Ga. 

17. Robert Morris, Pa. 

18. Thomas Willing, Pa. 

19. Benjamin Rush, Pa. 

20. Elbridge Gerry, Mass. 

21. Robert T. Payne, Mass. 

22. Abraham Clark, N. J. 

23. Stephen Hopkins, N. J. 

24. William Ellery, R. I. 

25. George Clymer, Pa. 

26. William Hooper, N. C. 

27. Joseph Hewes, N. C. 

28. James Wilson, Pa. 



29. FrancisHopkinson,N. J. 

30. John Adams, Mass. 

31. Roger Sherman, Ct. 

32. R. R. Livingston, N. Y. 

33. Thomas Jefferson, Va. 

34. Benjamin Franklin, Pa. 

35. Richard Stockton, N.J. 

36. Francis Lewis, N. Y. 

37. J. Witherspoon, N. J. 

38. Samuel Huntington, Ct. 

39. William Williams, Ct. 

40. Oliver Wolcott, Ct. 

41. John Hancock, Mass. 

42. Charles Thomson, Pa. 

43. George Reed, Del. 

44. John Dickinson, Del. 

45. Edward Rutledge, S.C. 

46. Thomas McKean, Pa. 

47. Philip Livingston, N.Y. 



II. SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE. 

The panel next to the preceding one, and on the 
left of the west entrance to the Rotundo, contains 
an historical painting, representing the surrender 
of General Burgoyne, at Saratoga, on the 17th of 
October, 1777. " The painting represents Gene- 
ral Burgoyne, attended by General Phillips, and 
followed by other officers, arriving near the 
markee of General Gates, who has advanced a 
few steps from the entrance to meet his prisoners. 
The latter, with General Phillips, has dismounted, 
and in the act of offering his sword, which Gene- 
rel Gates declines to receive, and invites them to 
enter and partake of refreshments. A number of 
the provincial officers of the American army are 
assembled near their General. 



42 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

"The confluence of Fish creek and the North 
river, where the British left their arms, is shown 
in the distance, near the head of Colonel Scammel; 
the troops are indistinctly seen crossing the creeks 
and the meadows, under the direction of Colonel 
(since Governor) Lewis, and advancing towards 
the foreground, they disappear behind the wood, 
which serves to relieve the three principal figures; 
and again appear (grenadiers, without arms and 
accoutrements) under the left hand of Gen. Gates. 
Officers on horseback, American, British, and Ger- 
man, precede the head of the column, and form an 
interesting cavalcade, following the dismounted 
Generals, and connecting the different parts of the 
picture." The following are the names of the 
officers whose portraits are given : 

1. Major Lithgow, Massacliuscttf?. 

2. Colonel Cilley, New-Hampshire. 

3. General Stark, Ncvv-Hampshire. 

4. Captain Seymour, Conn., of Sheldon's horse, 

5. M:ijor Hull, Massachusetts. 

6. Colonel Greaton, Massachusetts. 

7. Miijor Dearborn, New-Hampshire. 

8. Colonel Scammel, New-Hampshire. 

9. Colonel Lswis, Quartermaster General, N. Y. 

10. Mijor General Phillips, British. 

11. Lieutenant General Burjroyne, British. 

12. General Baron Reidesel, Germany. 

13. Col. Wilkinson, Deputy Adj. General, American. 

14. General Gates. 

15. Colonel Prescott, Massachusetts Volunteers. 

16. Colonel Morgan, Virginia Riflemen. 

17. Brigadier General Rufus Putnam, Massachusetts. 

18. Lieut. Col. John Brooks, late Governor of Mass. 

19. Rev. Mr. Hitchcock, Chaplain, Rhode-Island. 

20. Major Robert Troup, Aid-de-Camp, New-York. 
21 Major Haskell, Massachusetts. 



PAINTINGS. 43 

22. Mijor ArmstroTifT, Aid-do-Camp, now General. 

23. M ijor General Philip Schuyler, Albany, 

24. Brigadier General Glover, M issachusctts. 

25. Brig. Gen. Wliipple, New-Hamnshire Militia. 

26. Mxjor Matthew Clarkson, Aid-de-Cimp, N. Y. 

27. Major Ebenezjr Stevens, Massachusetts, com- 

manding the Artillery. 



III. SURRENDER OF THE BRITISH ARMY, COM- 
MANDED BY LORD CORNWALLIS, AT YORK- 
TOWN, IN VIRGINIA, OCTOBER 19, 1781. 

This painting ornaments the panel immediately 
on the right of the west entrance. The event is 
historical and memorable, and has been happily 
chosen by the painter. It closed the war of the 
Revolution, and established the independence of 
the United States. By a skilful movement of Gene- 
ral Washington, the French allies from the north 
and of Count de Grasse, Cornwallis who had pre- 
viously carried all before him in the south, was 
obliged to shut himself up in Yorktown, and find- 
ing it impossible to hold out till he could receive 
relief from New- York, surrendered his forces on. 
the 19th of October, 1781, to the combined armies 
of America and France. General Lincoln having 
been refused the honor of marching out of Charles- 
ton, when he had been compelled to surrender that 
city, with colors flying, &c,, it was thought but 
just that Lord Cornwallis should be required to 
do the same on this occasion, and General Lin- 
coln was appointed to superintend the submission 
of the British at Yorktown in the same manner 
as that of the American troops at Charleston had 
been conducted about eiofhteen months before. 



44 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

" The painting," says the artist, '* represents the 
moment when the principal officers of the British 
army, conducted by General Lincoln, are passing 
the two groups of American and French generals, 
and entering between the two lines of the victors; 
by this means the principal officers of the three 
nations are brought near together, so as to admit 
of distinct portraits. In the centre of the painting 
in the distance, are seen the entrance of the town, 
with the captured marching out, following their 
officers; and also a distant glimpse of York river 
and the entrance of the Chesapeake bay, as. seen 
from the spot." 

The following are the names of the French and 
American officers, whose portraits are contained 
in this painting. Those of the former were ob- 
tained at Paris in 1787, and taken from life, in the 
house of Mr. Jefferson, then Minister to France. 

1. Count Deuxponts, Colonel of French Infantry. 

2. Duke de Laval Montmorency, Colonel of do. 

3. Count Custine, Colonel of French Infantry. 

4. Duke de Lauzun, Colonel of French Cavalry. 

5. General Choizy. 

6. Viscount Viomenil. 

7. Marquis de St. Simon, 

8. Count Fersen, Aid-de-Camp of Count Rochambeau. 

9. Count Charles Damas, do. do. do. 

10. Marquis Chastellux. 

11. Baron Viomenil. 

12. Count de Barras, Admiral. 

13. Count de Grasso, Admiral. 

14. Count Rochambeau, Gen. en Chef des Franpais. 

15. General Lincoln. 

16. Colonel Ebenezer Stevens, American Artillery. 

17. General Washington, Commander in Chief. 

18. Thomas Nelson, Governor of Virginia. 

19. Marquis La Fayette. 



PAINTINGS. 45 

20. Baron Steuben. 

21. Colonel Cobb, Aid de-Camp to Gen. Washington. 

22. Colonel Trumbull, Secretary to Gen. Washington. 

23. Major.General James Clinton, New- York. 

24. General Gist, Maryland. 

25. General Anthony Wayne, Pennsylvania. 

26. General Hand, Adjutant-General Pennsylvania. 

27. General Peter Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania. 

28. Maj. Gen. H, Knox, Commander of Artillery. 

29. Lieut. Col. E. Huntington, Acting Aid-de-Camp 

to General Lincoln. 

30. Col. Timothy Pickering, Quartermaster General. 

31. Col. Alexander Hamilton, Com. Light Infantry. 

32. Colonel John Laurens, of South Carolina. 

33. Colonel Walter Stuart, of Philadelphia. 

34. Colonel Nicholas Fish, of New- York. 



IV. RESIGNATION OF GENERAL WASHINGTON AT 
ANNAPOLIS, DECEMBER 23, 1783. 

This is the last painting of Colonel Trumbull, 
and occupies the panel on the left of the north en- 
trance. The subject is one of great interest, and 
the event the painting is intended to represent, 
partakes of the moral sublime. After having libe- 
rated his country from the thraldom of Great Bri- 
tain, and himself an object of adoration to his ad- 
miring countrymen, he nobly throws aside all 
personal ambition, surrenders his commission into 
the hands of those who had conferred it, and retires 
into the shades of private life. Congress were in 
session at Annapolis, and that great man, after 
taking leave of his old military associates at New- 
York, proceeded to that city to tender his resigna- 
tion. He was admitted upon the floor, and being 
informed that Congress were prepared to receive 
his commission, he rose and addressed that body, 



46 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

in a brief but afTecting manner, and thus concluded 
his address: '' Having now finished the work as- 
signed me, I retire from the great theatre of action; 
and, bidding an affectionate farewell to this august 
body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I 
here offer my commission, and take my leave of all 
the employments of public life." He then ad- 
vanced, delivered to the President his commission, 
and resumed his seat. Mr, Mifflin, then President 
of Congress, replied to this address in a very neat 
and appropriate manner, and in the course of which 
he remarked : '' Having defended the standard of 
liberty in the new world; having taught a lesson to 
those who inflict, and to those who feel oppression, 
you retire from the great theatre of action with 
the blessings of your fellow-citizens; but the glory 
of your virtues will not terminale with your mili- 
tary command, it will continue to animate remotest 
ages." The painter has chosen the moment when 
General Washington is addressing the President 
of the body before him. He stands erect, noble 
and grand ; all eyes are fixed upon him with reve- 
rence and love; a part of his family are seen look- 
ing on from the gallery, and the whole scene is 
one of the most intense interest. The following 
are the names of the persons introduced whose 
portraits are given : 

1. Thomas Mifllin, of Pennsylvania, President. 

2. Ch.'irlcs Thomson, Pcnn., Member of Congress. 

3. ElI)ri{Jgc Gerry, of Massacliusclts, do. 

4. Hugh Williamson, North Carolina, do. 

5. Samuel Osgood, Massachusetts, do. 

6. Edward McComb, Delaware, do. 

7. George Partridge, Massachusetts, do. 
b. Edward Lloyd, Maryland, do. 



PAINTINGS. 41 

9. R. D. Spaiglit, North Car. Member of Congress. 

10. Benjamin Hawkins, do. do. 

11. A. Foster, New-Hampshire, do. 
12' Thomas Jefferson, Virginia, do. 

13. Arthur Lee, do. do. 

14. David Howell, Rhode-Island, do. 

15. James Monroe, Virginia, do. 
IG. Jacob Reid, South Carolina, do. 

17. James Madison, Virginia, (spectator.) 

18. William Ellery, Rhode-Island, do. 

19. Jeremiah Townly Chase, Maryland, do, 

20. S. Hardy, Virginia, do. 

21. Charles Morris, Pennsylvania, do. 

22. General Washington. 

23. Colonel Benjamin Walker. 

24. Colonel David Humphreys, Aid-dc-Camp. 

25. General Smallwood, Maryland, spectator. 

26. General Otho Holland Williams, Maryland, do. 

27. Colonel Samuel Smith, do. do. 

28. Colonel John E. Howard, Baltimore, do. do. 

29. Charles Carroll and two daughters, do. do. 

30. Mrs. Washington and her three grand children, do. 

31. Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Maryland, do. 



V. BAPTISM OF POCAHONTAS. 

This painting was executed by Mr. J. G. Chap- 
man, a talented native artist, who was employed, 
in compliance with a resolution of Congress, to 
ornament one of the vacant panels of the Rotundo, 
and it has been placed in the panel immediately 
east of the northern door. Pocahontas constitutes 
the prominent figure in the picture. She is kneel- 
ing on the steps of the rude baptismal font, in an 
attitude of deep humility and devotion. Her dress 
is pure white, with a snowy mantle of swan's skin, 
tipped with plumage, just falling from her shoul- 
ders. Her hair flows negligently over her neck 



48 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and back, and her features and complexion are 
those of the Indian, though her face is not so beau- 
tiful as it is represented to have been in life. The 
moment is one of deep solemnity and interest. The 
eyes of all seem to be fixed upon the young and 
interesting daughter of Powhatan, while thus in 
the act of renouncing the idols of Indian supersti- 
tion, and devoting herself to the service of the true 
God. The Indian figures, which form a part of 
the group, are well dehneated and finely painted ; 
they seem to be gazing on the scene with various 
feelings. The sister of Pocahontas is seated on the 
floor, with her child clinging to her, and looking 
on with intense interest and curiosity, while Opc- 
chankanough, also seated in the Indian fashion, 
scowls at the ceremony with deep malignity and 
ferocity. Rolfe, the husband of Pocahontas, stands 
behind her; and the minister, by far the most com- 
manding figure among the white portion of the 
congregation, has one hand in the font, and the 
other extended in the attitude of prayer. His ap- 
pearance is imposing and solemn. Sir Thomas 
Dale, in the martial costume of the age, stands on 
the right of the officiating clergyman, Whitaker, 
and his standard bearer and page near him. The 
other figures, male and female, civil and military, 
are stationed in different parts of the rustic church, 
looking on with apparent interest. The scene is 
represented in a chapel which has been painted, 
the artist says, after one now remaining, and built 
about the same time the one in which the ceremo- 
ny just described took place was erected. The 
open window aflbrds a partial view of the country. 
The composition is good, and the coloring rich 



BAPTISM OF POCAHONTAS. 49 

and splendid. It is an incident in the early settle- 
ment of our country which is scarcely known, and 
not susceptible, from its character, of very great 
ornament. Pocahontas w^as certainly an extraor- 
dinary girl, and one that we rarely meet whh, 
either in savage or civilized life. When but thir- 
teen years of age, she performed an act that will 
cover her name with eternal honor; and her hu- 
manity, courage, and devotion in the cause of the 
first settlers of Virginia, during her short life, 
were, for one so young, almost without a parallel. 
She was born about the year 1594-5; saved the 
Hfe of Captain Smith, on whose body she cast 
herself when about to be killed by order of her 
father, in 1607, when but twelve or thirteen years 
old: and was baptized and died in 1616, at the age 
of twenty-one or twenty-two. Her name was 
originally Matoaka, which signifies a streamlet 
between two hills. She was called among her 
Indian friends the Snow Feather, as was also her 
mother, from their remarkable gracefulness and 
swiftness of foot, and was christened by the name 
of Rebecca. Smith represents Pocahontas as 
possessing great personal beauty, though her 
countenance was sad and melancholy, like that of 
her father. Another has more recently described 
her ]fi a poetical work, entitled " Pocahontas;" 

" The raven tresses of Matoa's hair 

Lay like a cloud enshrining her soft brow ; 

* * • + * + 

" Her brow was stamped with shade, as was her sire's, 
(So say historians of romantic eld,) 
Deep-mark'd with sadness, free from savage fires, 
Claiming a sympathy by none withheld, 

• * » * « 



50 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. ; 

•• Her queenly brow not passing fair, 
But beauty and repose were there." 

The baptism of Pocahontas took place prior to 
her marriage with Rolfe and her departure from 
her native country. It is thought that this solemn 
and imposing ceremony was performed in the rude 
church which had been erected at Jamestown, the 
Tuins of which still remain. The event is thus 
poetically described by the authoress quoted above: 

••Wild was the scene, and hushed to calm repose ; 
From the dense crowd no thoughtless murmurs rose ; 
The very winds seemed voiceless as they swept 
The trackless wastes, where pristine beauty slept. 

" While lowly bending at the altar-stone, 
Alone in seeming, not in heart alone, 
The bright girl knelt, bathed in repentant tears — 
Connecting link between two hemispheres. 

•' Before the chancel, congregated there, 

***** 

Full many an exile from his distant home, 
By av'rice or ambition lured, had come. 

"The Knight, in blazonry of pomp and power. 
The gentle Page, won from his lady's bower; 
The Squires, whose gilded spurs in embryo seem 
The El Dorado of a bhssful dream. 



•' Sublime in youth and hope the aspirant stood, 
Nature's untutored child, late tenant of the wood ; 
Her dark hair floating on the summer wind. 
And loose her robe no art had taught to bind." 

Pocahontas was the first Christian convert 
among the Indian tribes of North America. Pre- 
vious to her baptism, according to Captain Smith, 
she had been carefully instructed in the doctrines 



BAPTISM OF POCAHONTAS. 51 

of Christianity ; after which, he says, "she never 
had a desire to live with her father or his people, 
W'ho would by no means turn from their idol;jtry 
that thereby they rnio;ht confess the true faith, 
which she embraced with all her heart, from that 
time mourning her former blindness and unbelief 
Her poor dear father, she said, although at times 
he was not angry with her, yet would by no means 
give up an idolatrous religion to which he had 
been so long used." 

Mr. Chapman has given what maybe consider- 
ed as a true representation of Nantaquaas, the 
brother of Pocahontas, whom Captain Smith seems 
to have regarded as the very hcau ideal of manly 
beauty. He is described by all the writers of that 
time as being amiable and useful, notwithstanding 
his savage nature.. He stands erect and lofty in 
the picture. His figure is grand and heroic, and 
his head is turned from the ceremony. 

"But who is that, with eye and brow serene, 
Of swarter visage than the forest Queen ? 
Pride of his race where lofty courage stands — • 
The test of virtue in his own bright lands." 

The drapery in this picture is exquisitely painted ; 
and the contrasts of colors and the variety of atti- 
tude he has given to his figures deserve high praise. 

THE STATUE OF WASHINGTON. 

This statue was ordered to be executed by Con- 
gress some years ago, and Mr. Greenough, an 
American artist of genius, was selected to execute 
it. For this purpose he repaired to Italy, where 
suitable materials and greater facilities could be 
cl 



52 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

obtained; and after devoting several years to the 
pleasing task which Jiad been assigned him, he 
completed the colossal statue which now ornaments 
the Rotundo, and which is to manifest the gratitude 
of the nation to its illustrious benefactor. Washing- 
ton is represented of colossal size, in a sitting posture. 
His body is nude to the waist, and the right arm and 
lower parts are draped. In his left hand he holds 
a sword, and with his right points towards heaven. 
The head and body are finely executed; the like- 
ness is admirable; and there is a poetical grandeur 
in the whole figure. A foreign writer has said: 
*' Nothing can be more human, and at the same time 
more god-like, than this colossal statue of Wash- 
ington. It is a sort of domestic Jupiter. The 
sublime repose and simplicity of the whole figure^ 
united as it is with exceeding energy of expression^ 
is perfectly classical without the slightest abstract 
imitation, so that there is no mistaking th e pure lin- 
eage of this statue. Being intended to fill the cen- 
tral position in the Capitol of the United States, he 
has addressed his statue of Washington to a distant 
posterity, and made it rather a poetical abstract of 
his whole career, than the chronicler of any one 
deed or any one leading feature of his life." 

The seat on which Washington rests is orna- 
mented with the acanthus leaf and garlands of 
flowers. The figure of Columbus leans against 
the back of the seat to the left, and is intended to 
connect the history of America with that of Eu- 
rope; while that of an Indian chief, on the right, 
represents the condition of the country at the period 
of its discovery. The right of the seat is orna- 
mented in basso relievo with the rising sun, the 



STATUE OF WASHINGTON. 53 

crest of ihe national arms of America ■ under 
which IS inscribed the motto, Magnus ab integio 
s(Rclorum nascitur ordo. On the left is sculptured 
in bass relief ihe Genii of North and South Ame- 
rica, under the forms of the infant Flercules strang- 
ling the serpent, and Iphiclus stretched on the 
ground, and apparently shrinking in fear from the 
contest. The motto is, Incipe posse jmer cui no7i 
risere parcntes. On the back of the seat is the 
following motto: 

Simulacrum istud ad magnum Libertatis exemplum, 
Ncc sine ipsa duraturum. 

HORATIUS GREENOUGH FACIEBAT. 

It may be doubted whether the figure of Wash- 
ington, half naked ^ is calculated to suit the taste of 
the people of this country or of this age. Pos- 
terity may be better pleased with it than the pre- 
sent generation; though the skill and genius of the 
artist, in the masterly delineations of the form and 
proportions of the illustrious chief, cannot but be 
greatly admired by all who see the statue. It is 
about twelve feet high, weighs fourteen tons, and is 
elevated on a pedestal twelve feet in height, in the 
centre of the Rotundo. 

The following appropriate lines on this statue, 
by H. T. Tuckerman, will be found interesting. 

" Tho quarry whence thy form majestic sprung. 

Has peopled earth with grace, 
Heroes and gods that elder bards have sung, 

A bright and peerless race. 
But i'rom its sleeping veins, ne'er rose before 

A shape of loftier name, 
Than his, who glory's wreath with meekness wore, 

The noblest son of fame. 

* i- + • * t 

C2 



54 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

" And it is well to place his image there, 
Beneatli the dome he blest.* 

" Let meaner spirits, who in council share, 

Revere that silent guest. 
Let us go up with high and sacred love. 

To look on his pure brow, 
And, as with solemn grace he points above. 

Renew the patriot's vow." t 

Proceeding through the western entrance of the 
Capitol you reach a spacious terrace, paved with 
Seneca freestone, and extending in a very beautiful 
sweep, from north to south. Beneath this terrace, 
which is below the level of the east front, is a range 
of casemate arches, forming depositories for the 
wood and coal annually consumed in the building. 
The terrace is faced with a grass bank or glacis, 
and accessible by two flights of stone steps on either 
side of the open arches leading to the basement 
story of the Capitol, Under the middle of these is 
a handsome marble fountain, from which the wa- 
ter, brought through pipes from springs about two 
miles north of the Capitol, falls into a beautiful 
basin of white marble, and thence flows into a re- 

• This is an anachronisin. Wasliiiigton did not live to see the Capiiol 
erected. 

tTho artist thus feelingly speaks of this offspring of 
his genius and labor: " It is the birth of my thought. I 
have sa'^rificed to it the flower of my days and the fresh, 
ness of my strength ; its every lineament has been moist- 
ened with the sweat of my toil and the tears of my exile. 
I would not barter away its association with my name for 
the proudest fortune avarice ever dreamed of. In giving 
it up to the nation that has done me the honor to order 
it at my hands, I respectfully claim for it that protection 
which it is the boast of civilizution to afford to art, and 
which a generous enemy has more than once been scca 
to extend even to the monumujits of his own defeat." 



NAVAL MONUMEiNT. 55 

servoir casod with stone, and in which has been 
erected a Monument to the memory of the yoimg 
naval officers, Sommers, Wadsworth, Israel, De- 
catur, Dorsey, and Caldwell, who gallantly per- 
ished off Tripoli, in 1804. This neat and beauti- 
ful monument was formerly erected in the Navy 
Yard of this city, a much more appropriate place 
than the one in which it now stands, and was exe- 
cuted in Italy, at the expense and by order of the 
officers of the Navy. It is a small Doric pillar, 
with emblematic embellishments, &c., crowned 
with an eagle in the act of flying. The column, 
ornamented with the prows of Turkish vessels, 
rests on a base, on one side of which is sculptured 
in basso relievo a view of Tripoli and its fortresses 
in the distance, the Mediterranean and American 
fleet in the foreground. The whole monument is 
of Italian marble, and its sub base of American 
marble, found near Baltimore. On each of the 
other sides of the base are inscriptions, one con- 
taining the names of the officers who so heroically 
sacrificed their lives on the occasion, rather than 
become the slaves of barbarians; the other the 
epitaph, &c. At each angle stands an appropriate 
marble figure, spiritedly executed. One of these 
represents America directing the attention of her 
Children, two beautiful infant figures, to History, 
who is recording the daring and intrepid action of 
the young heroes: the third represents Fame, with 
a wreath of laurel in one hand and a pen in the 
other; and the fourth Mercury, as the genius of 
Commerce, with his cornucopia and caduccus. 
Further west is another fall or glacis, with stone 
steps, from the bottom of which three fine walks, 



56 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

paved with granite, lead to the principal western 
gates, one in the centre, one opening into the Ma- 
ryland, and the other into the Pennsylvania ave- 
nue. On each side of the centre gateway are por- 
ters' lodges, which, with the stone piers to the gates, 
are constructed in the same style as the basement 
of the building. The public grounds around the 
Capitol are enclosed by an iron palisade or railing, 
bordered with a belt of forest and ornamental trees, 
shrubs, and flowers, and laid out into walks, neatly 
gravelled, and also planted with fine trees. On 
each side of the centre walk are two small jets 
dUeau, supplied with water from the reservoir 
above, which is brought from Mr. Smith's spring, 
two miles and a half north of the Capitol. A brick 
pavement extends along the wall, on the outside, 
upwards of a mile in length, and the square or 
public grounds form, in fine weather, one of the 
most beautiful promenades in this country. 

The public grounds around the Capitol and 
President's house are under the superintendence 
of a Chief Gardener, appointed by the President 
of the United States. 

To these grounds the police regulations of the 
city of Washington have been extended, and they 
are under such rules and regulations as the pre- 
siding officers of the two Houses have jointly pre- 
scribed for their preservation and the maintenance 
of order. 

Proceeding along the Pennsylvania avenue, 
which is four miles in length, and one hundred 
and sixty feet in width, and planted on each side 
with the elm, maple, and tree of heaven, you 
come to the 



Plit:SlDEiNT's HOUSE. 57 



PRESIDENT'S HOUSE. 

This elegant edifice is built of freestone, like 
the Capitol, according to the Ionic proportions. 
The design was furnished by Captain James Ho- 
ban, of this city, and is said to be copied from a 
private building in Dublin. The foundation was 
laid on the 13th of October, 1792. It is very beau- 
tifully situated at the intersection of Pennsylvania, 
Virginia, New- York, Connecticut and Vermont 
avenues, and stands near the centre of a plat of 
ground of twenty acres, at an elevation of forty-four 
leet above high water. The entrance front faces 
north upon Lafayette square, and the garden front 
to the south opens an extensive and finely varied 
view of the Capitol and improved part of the city, 
of the river and Potomac bridge, and of the oppo- 
site Virginia and Maryland shores. 

The building is one hundred and seventy feet 
front, and eighty-six feet deep; is built of white 
freestone, with Ionic pilasters, and comprehending 
two lotly stories of rooms, covered Avith a stone 
balustrade. The north front is ornamented with a 
fine portico of four Ionic columns in front, and pro- 
jecting with three columns. The outer interco- 
lumniation is for carriages to drive into and place 
company under shelter. The middle space is the 
entrance for those visiters who come on foot ; the 
steps from both lead to a broad platform in front of 
the door of entrance. The garden front is varied 
by having a rusticated basement story under the 
Ionic ordonnan.:e, and by a semicircular project- 
ing colonnade of six columns, with two flights of 
steps leading from the ground to the level of the 
c4 



58 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

principal story. In the interior, tlie north en- 
trance opens iiTi mediately into a spacious halJ ol' 
forty by fifty feet, finislied siiTiply with plain 
stuccoed walls. Advancing through a screen of 
Ionic columns, apparently of white marble, but 
only of a well executed imitation in composition, 
the door in the centre opens into the oval room, or 
saloon of forty by thirty feet, the walls covered 
with plain gold-leaf paper, with deep gilded bor- 
ders. The marble chimney-piece and tables, the 
crimson silk drapery of the window curtains and 
chairs, with a rich carpet, two large mirrors and 
a splendid cut glass chandelier, give the appear- 
ance of a rich and consistent style of decoration and 
finish. On each side of this room, and communica- 
ting therewith by large doors, is a square room of 
thirty by twenty-two feet. These three rooms form 
the suit of apartments in which company is usually 
received on parade occasion.s. To the west of these 
IS the company dining room^ forty by thirty, and 
on the northwest comer is the /a 7/^^/?/ dining room. 
All these rooms are furnished handsomely, but less 
richly than the oval room. The walls are covered 
with rich paper, sprinkled with gold and gilt bor- 
ders. The stairs for family use are in a cross en- 
try at this end, with store rooms, china closets, 
&c., between the two dining rooms. On the east 
end of the house is the large banqueting room 
(called the East-room) extending the whole depth 
of the building, with windows to the north and 
south, and a large glass door to the east, leading 
to the terrace roof of the offices. This room is 
eighty by forty feet, and twenty-two feet high; it 
is finished with handsome stucco cornice. It has 



59 

lately been fitted up in a splendid manner. The 
paper is white and silver. There are four mantels 
of black marble, with Italian black and gold fronts, 
and handsome grates; each mantel is surmounted 
with a mirror, the plates of which measure one 
hundred by fifty-eight inches, framed in a beauti- 
ful style, and a pair often-light lamps, bronzed and 
gilt, with a row of drops around the fountain, and 
a pair of French cepina vases, richly gilt and 
painted, with glass shades and flowers. There 
are three handsome chandeliers of eighteen lights 
each, of cut glass in gilt mountings, with a num- 
ber of gilt bracket lights of five candles each. 
The carpet, which contains nearly five hundred 
yards, is of fine Brussels. Under the centre chan- 
delier is placed a round table of rich workmanship 
of Italian black and gold slabs ; and each pair is 
filled with a table corresponding w^ith the round 
table, with splendid lamps on each of them. 1'he 
curtains are of a light blue merino, with yellow 
draperies. The principal stairs on the left of the 
entrance hall are spacious, and covered with Brus- 
sels carpeting. On ascending these, the visiter to 
the President is led into a spacious ante-room, from 
the south windows of which a beautiful prospect 
is presented to the eye. When in course to be in- 
troduced, he ascends a few steps and finds himself 
in a south chamber, the President's cabinet room, 
which is about forty feet wide, and finished like 
those below. The room next to this is occupied 
by the President's private Secretary, and the one 
directly opposite, in the northeast corner, by the 
private Secretary, who signs the President's name 
to patents. The apartment immediately adjoining, 
c5 



60 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

west, is used as a reading room, where the differ- 
ent journals of the United Slates, sent to the Pre- 
sident, are filed, and placed on stands, for the con- 
venience of the President and his family, and those 
who may be waiting for an audience with him. 
The other chambers are appropriated to family 
purposes. A writer in describing this building, 
has said, and I concur with him in opinion,* that 
" this palace belongs to the people, and should be 
adorned with the best specimens of the fine arts 
the country can produce. The works of the great 
painters should hang upon the walls, and those of 
their sculptors fill every niche. To the tenants of 
this house it cannot be of much importance, for to 
them it is only a caravansary, where they throw 
down their wallets, to cast a horoscope, to lay spirits 
and raise spells, and their hour comes, and they 
take up their march without restoration to health 
or a forgiveness of their sins. Such is the omni- 
potence of the public mind in a free Government." 
The grounds around this mansion are enclosed, 
like those of the Capitol, with an iron railing on a 
stone base, into which you enter through two gate- 
ways of stone, at the north or main entrance, 'i'liey 
are laid out into gravelled walks, planted with trees, 
in clumps and lines along the walls, and ornament- 
al shrubbery and flowers. A portion of the reser- 
vation allotted to this building, extending south of 
the wall, some distance beyond the Tiber, has not 
yet been enclosed, and lies waste and uncultivated. 
There is a rusticated gateway on the east of the 
square, of freestone, in the form of an arch, with 
a large weepmg willow on each side of the ca- 
* Knapp's Sketches. 



WAR AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS. 61 

trance. It was formerly said, by the lady of a 
President, while occupying the house appropria- 
ted for his use, and being congratulated on her ele- 
vation — " I don't know that there is much cause 
for congratulation — the President of the United 
States generally comes in at the iron gate, and 
goes out at the weeping loillows.^^ 

On the west of the President's House are two 
large brick buildings, one, a hundred and fifty-nine 
feet long and fifty-seven feet wide, and the other 
one hundred and thirty feet long by sixty wide. 
They are each two stories high, with basements 
of freestone, and the north building has a hand- 
some portico of the Ionic order. The latter is oc- 
cupied by the 

WAR DEPARTxMENTj 

And the south building by the 

NAVY DEPARTMENT. 

Both these edifices are enclosed, and the grounds 
ornamented with trees and shrubbery. The west 
entrance is from Seventeenth street, on the west of 
which, in private houses, having at present no other 
accommodation, are the Pension Office, the offices 
of the Paymaster General^ Topographical Bu- 
reau^ Subsistence Department^ Medical Depart- 
ment, c^-c. 

Another building of the same dimensions as that 
west of the President's House, fronting north, and 
in the same style of architecture, stands on Fif- 
teenth street, and is occupied by the 
c6 



62 taJIDE TO WASHINGTON. 



STATE DEPARTMENT. 

South of lliis building- stood one similar in dimen- 
sions, and of the same material, which was occu- 
pied by the Treasur}^ Department, until the 31st 
of March, 1833, when it was consumed by fire. 



THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 

Since the calamity abovementioned, a spacious 
and convenient fire-proof edifice of freestone has 
been erected by order of Congress, for the accom- 
modation of this department. This building is three 
stories high, with a basement, into each of which wa- 
ter is conducted from a fountain in Fifteenth street, 
A magnificent stone colonnade of the Ionic order, 
consisting of thirty-one columns, runs ihe whole 
length of the front on Fifteenth street. The facade 
is ornamented with anta; or pilasters, correspondiiig 
in number with the columns, and ranged between 
the windows in front. The corridors running from 
north to south, and the hall or entrance, from which 
the staircases spring, are paved, in a tesselated 
form, with Seneca stone. From the centre in the 
rear runs a projection west, about one hundred and 
twenty feet in depth, by sixty feet in width, of the 
same elevation, and in the same style as the rest 
of the building, and terminated by a handsome co- 
lonnade of the Ionic order. On each side of the 
corridor running east and west, and in each of the 
three stories, are rooms occupied by the clerks of 
the department. The whole building- contains one 
hundred and fifty apartments, for the accommo- 



POST OFFICE UEPARTMKNT, 63 

dcition ot the Treasury Department, and its various 
bureaus; the Creueral Land Office, occupying the 
third story, and the whole building-, which is com- 
modious and well adapted to the purpose for which 
it was erected, is indestructible by fire. The ar- 
chitect of this, the Patent Office, and the Gen- 
eral Post Office buildincrs, is Mr. R. Mills. The 
War, Navy, State, and Treasury buildings, occu- 
py portions of the President's square, and are 
erected east and west of the President's House. 
The Treasury building has been objected to, be- 
cause its front has been brought directly on the 
line of the street, which has thus prevented the 
erection of a portico, and staircase in front, and 
marred the architectural beauty of the facade, and 
because it obstructs the view along F street, which, 
it is contended, was never contemplated. 



POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 

In consequence of the destruction of the old build- 
ing by fire, on the 15th of December, 1836, this de- 
partment Avas accommodated in a range of private 
buildings on the north side of Pennsylvania avenue, 
between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets west. A 
splendid edifice, of white marble, has been erected 
on the old site for its accommodation. 

The site of this magnificent building was for- 
merly private property, and purchased by Mr. S. 
Blodget for the purpose of erecting on it a large 
brick hotel, for the accommodation of the city; the 
design w^as furnislved by Capt. James Hoban, and 
adopted by the city commissioners, in 1793. This 
c 7 



64 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

building was put up out of the proceeds of a lottery 
authorized to be diawn, but not completed. The 
owners of the prize ticket were orphan children, 
who not having the means of completing the build- 
ing, suffered it to remain for several years in an 
unfinished and dilapidated state, the basement story 
occupied by Irish emigrants and others, who, hav- 
ing to pay no rent, took possession of it, till it was 
purchased by the Government, and finished in a 
plain style. Immediately after the late war, there 
being no other building in the city large enough, 
it was occupied by the two houses of Congress for 
a short time, and afterwards by the General and 
City Post Office, Patent Office, and Library of Con- 
gress. The latter was removed, in 1818, to the 
Capitol, and the former continued to occupy the 
building till its destruction by fire, on the 15lh of 
December, 1836. 

The new and splendid edifice just completed is 
cased with white marble, brought from the vicinity 
of New- York, and is the only marble building 
now in Washington ; the material of the other pub- 
lic buildings being sand or freestone, granite, and 
brick. It occupies the southern portion of square 
four hundred and thirty, and fronts on E street 
north, between Seventh and Eighth streets west. Its 
principal front is two hundred and four feet, and the 
fronts on Seventh and Eighth streets one hundred 
and two feet, forming a hollow square in the rear 
of one hundred feet in width, built of granite, 'i'he 
order is a rich Corinthian. The centre of each 
front is ornamented with four fluted columns, and 
the facades with pilasters of marble, surmounted 
by their entablature and blocking. The whole is 



PATENT OFFICE. 65 

elevated on a rustic basement, making three sto- 
ries. The windows in the second story come down 
to the floor, and each floor contains twenty-six 
rooms, ail arched and made fire-proof. The halls 
and corridors are beautifully paved with marble, 
in a tesselated style. The corridor of the second 
story extends the whole length of the south front, 
and is richly ornamented with stucco Avork. This 
is a beautiful edifice, and does great credit to its 
architect and builders. 



THE PATENT OFFICE. 

The approach along Eighth street from Penn- 
sylvania avenue affords a view of the portico only 
of the building- occupied by the Patent Oflice, but as 
you advance the whole facade makes its appearance. 
This fine edifice is situated on F, between Seventh 
and Ninth streets west, on a public square, which, 
contrary to the plan of all the other reservations in 
this city, projected some distance into the street, for 
the purpose of affording room for a portico or co- 
lonnade in front. The portico of this building, so 
far as it extends, is copied from the Parthenon, or 
Temple of xMinerva, at Athens, The columns in 
a double row, of the Doric order, are of freestone, 
eighteen feet in circumference, and of course very 
massive. The basement story of this edifice, and 
the steps leading to the stylobate of the portico, are 
of granite, and the superstructure, two stories high, 
is of freestone. The facade is ornamented with 
pilasters, or antse, which separate the windows, and 
the roof is covered with copper. According to the 
c8 



66 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

plan of the architect, the building is intended to 
be carried round the square, presenting fronts on 
each of the four streets, and forming a spacious 
court in the centre. You enter the eastern door 
of the basement story into a spacious passage, 
running from east to west the whole length of the 
building, through which large wheeled machines 
can be drawn. On each side of this passage are 
rooms for the deposite of fuel, large and heavy 
models, &c. In the centre springs a semicir- 
cular stone staircase, consisting of two flights of 
steps, which continues to the second and last story. 
The corridor in the first story, into which you 
enter through the portico, is like the one below, 
and on each side east of the hall are commodious 
apartments for the accommodation of the Commis- 
sioner of the Patent Office, his clerks, examiners, 
draughtsmen, &c. The passage opens into a spa- 
cious and beautiful model room, in which the va- 
rious models and specimens of American ingenuity 
are deposited in glass cases, placed opposite the 
windows on each ivide, and so arranged as to be 
easily seen or examined, if necessary. But deci- 
dedly the most magnificent apartment in the build- 
ing is the exhibition room, which occupies the 
whole of the second story, and, for its architec- 
tural simplicity and beauty, and the purpose for 
which it was designed and constructed, is perhaps 
surpassed by no other in the world. Standing at 
one extremity, and looking down to the other, 
through a long vista, two hundred and seventy- 
four feet in extent, the perspective is most beauti- 
ful. It consists of a double row of stone columns, 
which support a succession of brick arches lincly 



PATENT UFFICE. 67 

proportioned, and corresponding in depth with the 
rooms below. The floor is paved with tesselated 
felone, the columns and stone work are painted 
white, and the light is admitted through the nume- 
rous windows on either side, and at the ends of 
the building, and a small lantern in the centre lets 
in the light from above. The apartment is intended 
for the exhibition of the various specimens of manu- 
facture, &c., made in this country, and which cer- 
tainly could be no where seen to greater advan- 
tage than here. 

The National Institution, recently established in 
this city, has been permitted by the Secretary of 
State to use this hall as a depository for zoological, 
botanical, mineralogical and other specimens sent 
to the United States by the officers of the explor- 
ing expedition, and placed under the care and su- 
perintendence of the society. The hall is thus 
rendered an object of great interest, curiosity and 
usefulness to all who choose to visit it, and has 
become the nucleus of one of the largest and most 
magnificent museums, and mineralogical cabinets 
in the United States.* 

The pitch of the roof is very low; and from its 
top one of the most splendid panoramic views pre- 
sents itself that can well be imagmed. 

The gentleman who furnished the very merito- 
rious design of this fine building is Mr. William 
P. Elliot, at present surveyor of the city of Wash- 
ington. The plan was executed by Mr. Mills, 
architect of the Public Buildings, who may have 
made some alterations in the original plan of the 
interior, but to what extent 1 am not apprised. 
* See National Institution. 



6S GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

'J'he whole buildinp^ is a fine specimen oC Ameri- 
can arcliilecture, and admirably suited to the pur- 
pose for which it was erected. 



THE NAVY YARD. 

This yard is situated on the Eastern branch, 
about three-fourths of a mile southeast of the Ca- 
pitol ; it contains thirty-seven acres, and cost four 
thousand dollars. It is enclosed on the north and 
east side by a high brick wall. The entrance is 
on Eighth street, through a handsome gateway of 
stone, on each side of which are neat guard rooms. 
It contains a commodious brick dwelling for thecom- 
mandant, and other houses for the accommodation 
of officers attached to the yard. There are extensive 
timber sheds, warehouses, blacksmiths', coopers', 
trimmers', plumbers', joiners', sail-makers', boat 
builders' shops, &c., and two large ship houses. It 
has a steam engine which works two sets of saws, 
drives a tilt hammer, turners' lathes, &c. A neat 
and beautiful building of brick, two stories high, 
with verandahs running all around it, has lately 
been erected as offices, for the officers and others 
doing business in this establishment. There is 
also a neat armory, handsomely arranged ; and a 
large quantity of naval stores and cannon of every 
caliber are deposited in this yard. The grounds 
are tastefully laid out, and the whole interior pre- 
sents the appearance of great neatness and clean- 
liness. Several ships of war have been built here, 
the designs, durability and construction of which 
have been much admired and applauded ; among 



NAVY YARD. 69 

these were the Columbus seventy-four, and the 
Potomac, Essex, Columbia and Brandywine 
irigates of forty-four guns each. No situation in 
the country could be better chosen for a manufac- 
turing yard than this, especially after the Chesa- 
peake and Ohio Canal shall have been completed 
as far as Cumberland. The river has a sufficient 
depth of water for frigates to ascend without light- 
ening beyond the yard ; and being under the im- 
mediate eye of Congress and the Government, it 
should claim their particular care, attention and 
favor. 

Besides the Washington Navy Yard, there are 
several others belonging to the United States. One 
at Portsmouth, New-Hampshire, containing fifty- 
eight acres, cost $5,500. One at Charlestown, 
Massachusetts, containing thirty-four acres, cost 
$39,214. One on Long"- Island, New- York, on 
Wallabout Bay, containing forty acres, which cost 
$40,000. One at Philadelphia, containing eleven 
acres, which cost $37,000. One at Gosport, Vir- 
ginia, containing sixteen acres, which cost $ 1 2,000 ; 
and one at Pensacola, Florida. 

Every Navy Yard is commanded by a Captain, 
the highest grade in the American Navy. Cap- 
tains command Navy Yards, squadrons, ships of 
the line, and frigates, and in the three principal 
ports, Boston, New- York, and Norfolk, and the 
receiving ships for enlisted sailors and apprentices. 
The next grade to the Captain is the Commander, 
who commands a sloop of war, the rendezvous for 
the enlistment of seamen, and attached to Navy 
Yaids, as second or executive officer. The lowest 



70 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

grade of commissioned officers, who exercise com- 
mand, is that of Lieulenant. These are attached 
to cruising and receiving vessels, to Navy Yards, 
two or three to each, to rendezvous, two to each, 
and they also command schooners, and the receiv- 
ing vessels at Philadelphia and Baltimore. Sur- 
geons and their assistants, Pursers and Chaplains, 
are commissioned officers, but non-combatants. 

The warrant officers are Passed Midshipmen, 
Midshipmen, Masters, Boatswains, Gunners, Car- 
penters, and Sailmakers. 

The title of Commodore, in the American naval 
service, is one of courtesy only, no such title being 
recognised by naval laws. When a Captain com- 
mands a squadron, he is styled a. Commodore, by 
courtesy. 



FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES. 

In the year 1777, the Flag of the United States 
was ordered by a resolution of Congress, to be 
formed of thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, 
and the Union of thirteen stars, white in a blue 
field, representing the new constellation. In 1794, 
the stripes and stars were increased to fifteen, in 
consequence of the addition of two new States. In 
1818, the number of stripes was again restored to 
thirteen, and the stars of the Union increased to 
twenty; and it was also ordered "that on the ad- 
mission of every new State one star shall be added 
to the Union of the Flag, to take eflect on the 4tli 
of July then next succeeding such admission." 



CONGllESSIONAL BURIAL GROUND. 71 

THE MARINE BARRACKS. 

These barracks are of brick, from on Eighth street 
fia'st, and extend upwards of seven hundred feet in 
length, with a centre building two stories high, 
having a portico in front and back. This is oc- 
♦•upied by the officers of the corps at Washington 
as their quarters. At the north of the square stands 
a commodious brick dwelling for the accommoda- 
tion of the colonel of the corps and his family ; 
and at the south, directly opposite, are an armory 
and workshop. The whole ground (square 927) 
is enclosed with a high wall of brick, and kept 
very neat and clean. 

THE NAVY MAGAZINE. 

This is a substantial brick house situated on a 
reservation belonging to the United States, on the 
Eastern branch, containing about seventy acres of 
ground, which has been enclosed with a post and 
rail fence. A small frame house for the keeper 
stands within a few yards of the magazine, and a 
wharf, for the convenience of receiving and carry- 
ing off the powder, extends from the shore some 
short distance into the river, but it is in a dilapi- 
dated state. 

In returning from this establishment, you pass 
the 

CONGRESSIONAL BURIAL GROUND. 

This grave yard is under the direction of the 
vestry of Christ church of this city. It is situ- 



72 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

ated abont a mile and a half east of the Capitol, 
and embraces an area of about ten acres, surround- 
ed by a substantial brick wall, with three hand- 
some gateways leading into the cemetery, through 
which run several fine avenues and smaller walks, 
ornamented with trees and shrubs, that are now 
beginning to give it the appearance of a garden. 
The site of this grave yard has bet?n most judiciously 
chosen. It commands a fine view of the surround- 
ing country and the Anacostia, which flows at a 
short distance below it, and, in a calm summer 
evening, when the water is still and placid, re- 
flects from its polished bosom the beautiful land- 
scape on the opposite side of the river. A spacious 
and tastefully constructed general receiving vault 
stands on one of the main avenues. It was erect- 
ed by Congress for the reception of the dead for 
whom graves might not have been prepared. It 
is surrounded by a neat iron railing ; its front built 
of freestone, the door of iron, and the area within 
the railing ornamented with beautiful shrubs. In 
this vault bodies may be kept for two months, 
after which they must be removed for interment. 
This course is frequently adopted by families and 
strangers who have no vaults, in order to prevent 
those outrages which are sometimes committed in 
other cities upon the dead by resurrectionists. In 
one instance, however, the body of a distinguished 
citizen was permitted to remain for upwards of ten 
months, in the expectation that a tomb or monu- 
ment would be erected by his friends, under which 
the remains were to be deposited. This was the 
body of the eloquent author of the British Spy, to 
whose memory his friends and the members of the 



CONGRESSIONAL BURIAL GROUND. 73 

Bar had promised to cause a monument to be erect- 
ed, provided his family would consent to permit 
him to be buried in this cemetery. The pledge, 
however, as in the case of Washington and Mar- 
shall, has never been redeemed, and the remains 
of the illustrious Wirt were finally thrown into 
an obscure grave, to moulder with the dead around 
him. 

In the southwest corner of this grave yard the 
eye rests upon a broken marble shaft, which in- 
dicates the spot where the remains of the brave 
Brown repose. 

" The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

What thrilling events does not this mute memo- 
rial of the dead recall ! But even they, too, are 
fast passing away from the memory of his coun- 
trymen, and the succeeding generation will know 
them only from the page of history. 

In the northeast corner of this burial ground 
stand two neat marble monuments, erected to the 
memory of men who once filled a large space in 
the public eye, George Clinton and Elbridge 
Gerry; who died here while in the discharge of 
their official duties as Vice-Presidents of the Uni- 
ted States. These, at present, are the principal 
monuments in this cemetery. Almost in a line 
with these, and ranging from north to south, are 
tombs of such members of Congress as have died 
at the seat of Government, and been buried at the 
public expense. They are built of free or sand- 
stone, painted white, have each four panels, on 
one of which are engraved, in black letters, the 
name, age, period of death, &c., of the deceased, 



14 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and topped with a small pyramid. A brick wall 
is formed at the bottom of the grave, in which a 
splendid mahogany coffin, decorated with plated 
escutcheons, and containing the body of the de- 
ceased member, is deposited, and over which a 
brick arch is cast, and the whole surmounted by 
the very plain and rather tasteless tomb of which 
1 have spoken. Some more beautiful design might 
be substituted without adding much to the expense ; 
and the material should be marble, instead of the 
very ordinary sandstone of which they are now 
constructed. As a burial ground, partly national, 
great architectural might be united to fine horti- 
cultural taste, and thus form a retreat to which the 
stranger as well as the citizen would feel a melan- 
choly pleasure in repairing, to tranquilize the agi- 
tations of feeling, while meditating in solitude amid 
the silent repositories of the dead. 

Among those mute but eloquent memorials of 
mortality, where the ''bitterness of hatred, the in- 
satiabilhy of avarice, and the fire of ambition," no 
longer exist, and are forever buried in the tomb 
which covers them, the mind naturally sinks into 
a train of melancholy reflection, which such a 
scene is always calculated to inspire, and becomes 
softened and mellowed by the calm and salutary 
meditation into which it is irresistibly led. We 
feel, in looking around us, that all is indeed vani- 
ty ; that we are but ciphers in this beautiful world, 
and that in a few fleeting years we, too, shall be- 
come a kneaded clod," and quit all that once ren- 
dered life delightful, and perhaps rest amid the 
very mouldering heaps over which our eye now 
coldly but pensively wanders. "We are shadows," 



CONGUEoSlONAL BURIAL GROUND. i'O 

says Pindar; "the dreams of shadows are all that 
our fancies imagine." Man is emphatically dust, 
and to dust he must return, after life's fitful fever is 
past. All his greatness, and glory, and power, are 
but the ignes fcUui of living corruption — meteors, 
that blaze for a moment, and then disappear for- 
ever, in the long night of death. But to this '' savor 
all must come at last." The grave is man's last 
resting place ; there terminate the joys and sor- 
rows, the hopes and fears, the cares and pleasures 
of existence. But one consolation remains — 

" An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave, 
Legions of angels can't confine mc there." 

In the course of forty years, during which Con- 
gress has assembled in this city, there have not 
been more than thirty-five or forty interments of 
its members. Two of these were buried in a rural 
church-yard a few miles from Washington, having 
died in the infancy of the citj^, when no public 
burial ground existed. Their remains were a few 
years ago transferred, by order of Congress, to 
this cemetery, and interred with those who had 
been previously buried here. After this lapse o( 
time, but little could be found of what once consti- 
tuted the bodies of men who had, perhaps, while 
in being, been gifted with physical beauty, and 
animated with all the hopes and joys and plea- 
sures of life. All had mouldered away, except a 
few bones, which were collected together and de- 
posited among those who had subsequently sunk 
into the long sleep of death, and been honored 
with a public funeral, and all the ''sable mockery 
of wo." But here repose the statesman, the orator, 



76 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and the warrior; the illustrious and the obscure, 
"and all that beauty, all that worth e'er gave," 
alike crumble into dust, and mingle with the com- 
mon elements from which they sprang. 

Among those who "lie in cold obstruction and 
who lot" in this burial ground are two who, wea- 
ried with the world, or in a fit of frenzy, sought for 
quiet and repose in the grave. They are honored 
with nearly the same memorial as those who had 
the courage to live out their term of life on earth, 
and their dust commingles with that of the mighty 
dead around them. Nil mortuis nisi bojtum, is not 
always a correct maxim. The vices as well as 
the virtues of the dead should be recorded, as ex- 
amples to be shunned or followed by the living. 

While strolling through this cemetery one can- 
not but exclaim — 

" How populous, how vital is the grave I 
This is creation's melancholy vault ; 
The vale funereal, the sad cypress gloom, 
The land of apparitions, empty shades; 
All, all on earth is shadow." 

But a few years have elapsed since this spot was 
covered with a primeval forest, the haunt of the sa- 
vage, the lurking place of the wild beast : and now, 
how populous with the dead ! the last abiding place 
of those who once fascinated and led the mind cap- 
tive by their eloquence ; who charmed the eye with 
the splendor of their beauty, or excited admiration 
by their bravery and patriotism. Here rests, too, 
the body of the Indian warrior, whose last wish 
was that the big guns might be fired over him, to 
waft his spirit in triumph to the region where 
wander the souls of his fathers. Pushmataha's 



CONGRESSIONAL BURIAL GROUND. 77 

wish was gratified, and a tomb has been erected 
over his body to indicate that he was the friend ol' 
the white man. Would that it could be said that 
the white man was the friend of the Indian ! This 
brave son of the forest died as he had lived — the 
lofty and fearless warrior ; and, like Outallassi, he 

" Would not stain with grief 
The death.song of an Indian chief." 

The rude child of Nature, and the polished oc- 
cupant of the drawing-room — the Demosthenes of 
the Senate, and the humble laborer of the field — 
the old and decrepit, and the young and beautiful ; 
repose together in the bosom of their common 
mother. What a leveller is death ! But, 

"Were death denied, poor man would live in vain ; 
Were death denied, to live would not be life ; 
Were death denied, e'en fools would wish to die." 

Those who have the superintendence and man- 
agement of this interesting burial ground have done 
much, aided by appropriations by Congress, to 
beautify and improve it. A convenient brick lodge 
or edifice has been erected near the western wall 
for the accommodation of the sexton. Avenues and 
walks have been laid out, gravelled and ornament- 
ed with appropriate trees and flowering shrubs. 
The tree of heaven, the Babylonian willow, the 
elm, the cedar, and the fir are beginning to afford 
shade and give beauty to the cemetery. The arbor 
vitas, rose, calicanthus, myrtle, &c,, are also plant- 
ed and nourished by the hand of affection and ten- 
derness; and it is curious to see "many a moul- 
dering heap," where lie the bodies of the dead, 
covered with and putting forth the trees of life. 



78 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

But the cypress and the j^ew are wanting ; they 
are not suited to the climate. And the 

" Fidel ami des morts, protecteur de leurs cendres," 

is looked for in vain. And the fun ereal yew, so com- 
mon in the church-yards in England, the symbol 
of immortality, the melancholy and appropriate 
companion of the dead, finds no abiding place here. 
The outspreading branches and dark sombre foliage 
of this melancholy tree form a fine feature in the 
scenery of a grave yard. 

" Cheerless, unsocial plant, that loves to dwell 
' Midst skulls and coffins, epitaphs and vvonus. 

♦♦ A noxious tree is the church-yard yew, 
As if from the dead its sap it drew ; 
Dark are its branches and dismal to see, 
Like plumes at death's latest solemnity. 
Spectral and jagged, and black as wings 
Wliich some spirit of ill o'er a sepulchre flings: 
Oh ! a terrible tree is the church-yard yew, 
Like it is there nothing so ghastly to view." 

Ainsworlh. 

But the rose, the lovely rose, is seen, in most of 
its varieties, unfolding its beautiful buds, and breath- 
ing its delicious fragrance upon almost every grave. 
This shrub, which, according to Anacreon, 

Preserves the cold inurned clay. 
And marks the vestige of decay, 

is a fine burial ground ornament, and an expres- 
sive emblem of affection. 

Great improvements have been made within a 
few years in this burial ground, and it is now an 
object worthy the attention of the citizen as wuU 
as the strani^er. 



CONGRESSIONAL BURIAL GROUND. 79 

The Congressional burial ground may not be 
compared at present to the Pere la Chaise, near 
Paris, or Mount Auburn, in the vicinity of Bos- 
ton ; but I know of no other cemetery in this 
country superior to it in beauty of site, the neat- 
ness, cleanliness, and arrangement of the grounds, 
or the number, and, in a few cases, the beauty of 
its monuments and tombs. There is no evidence 
of neglect or indifference towards the dead by those 
who superintend, or those whose kindred or friends 
repose in this burial ground. There are several 
other grave yards within this city, which have not 
claimed so much attention from those who have 
had the direction of them, as the one of which I 
have spoken. Of these, two are public, and under 
the management of trustees appointed by the Cor- 
poration; the rest belong to different denomina- 
tions of Christians, and though not so gardcnesque 
and beautiful as the Congressional, are often pre- 
ferred as a depository of the dead, and visited per- 
haps not less frequently by those whom undying 
affection and tenderness may lead to the last rest- 
ing place of their departed friends, to plant a flower 
or shed a tear over their graves. 

The Congressional Burial Ground was formerly 
called the '' Washington Parish Burial Ground," 
and first projected in the year 1807, by a few 
of the respectable inhabitants of the eastern sec- 
tion of the city, of various denominations, who 
selected the site of the cemetery, and put the price 
of the lots in it so low that the most humble were 
enabled to provide graves for themselves and fami- 
lies. After the amount expended in the purchase 
of the land and the improvements which liad been 



80 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

made, was reimbursed, the cemetery was placed, 
as above stated, under the direction of the vestry 
of Christ church, which was an incorporated body. 
Among those who first projected this grave yard, 
are found the names of Henry Ingle, George Blag- 
den, Griffith Coombe, Samuel N. Smallwood, Dr. 
Frederick May, Peter Miller, J. T. Frost, and 
Commodore Thomas Tingy, some of the earliest 
emigrants to Washington. 

At the southern extremity of the city, called 
Greenleaf 's Point, is an extensive 

ARSENAL. 

This arsenal occupies a portion of land about 
a quarter of a mile square, and, together with the 
shops and laboratories, is used for the deposite of 
arms and the manufacture of military stores. At- 
tached to it are large sheds and houses for the 
storage of caissons, cannon carriages and quarters 
for the officers and men ; a magazine, model offi- 
ces, &c., the whole beautifully situated. There is 
also, in the enclosed ground, a fine brick edifice, 
three stories high, for the use of the arsenal. 
" The machinery employed consists of a steam 
engine of twelve horse power, attached to which 
is a trip-hammer, two screw cutting machines, a 
drilling and two sawing machines, circular and 
upright, and several newly constructed lathes, &c. 
The average number of workmen employed is 
about one hundred. The stores consist of about 
eight hundred iron cannon, chiefly of large cali- 
ber, above thirty brass cannon, howitzers and mor- 
tars, :;apturcd during the Revolution. There are 



PENITENTIARY. 81 

also about forty thousand stand of arm?, one hun- 
dred field carriages of wood, and a large number 
of cast iron, for fortifications." 

Immediately north of the arsenal is the 

PENITENTIARY OF THE DISTRICT. 

It is a brick edifice of considerable elevation, con- 
taining the cells of the convicts, four tiers high, 
built of freestone, and secured by strong iron doors. 
The dwellings of the warden and keepers, which 
are attached to the main building, are commodious 
and convenient ; that of the former fronts the Po- 
tomac, and is pleasantly situated. A good wharf 
runs into the river in front of the warden's house, 
and has been erected for the convenience of land- 
ing articles for the use of the establishment. The 
grounds are enclosed with a high brick wall. 

Several of the inmates have acquired trades, and 
some have been hopefully converted under the in- 
struction of the chaplains. The establishment 
is very healthy, only one person having died since 
its origin, in 1829. The cells and other apartments 
are well ventilated, and the most rigid cleanliness is 
maintained. The diet is coarse and cheap, but well 
cooked. The expense is about sixteen cents each, 
per day, for food, clothing and bedding. The con- 
victs are required to labor in silence, from sun-rise 
to sun-set. At night they are locked up in separate 
cells. The beds and bedding are kept remarkably 
neat and clean, and lime is freely used for cleans- 
ing and purifying the rooms. The annual expense 
of supporting the institution is estimated at fifteen 
thousand two hundred dollars. 



82 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 



TEIE CITY HALL. 

The south front of this fine building only is 
completed. It was planned by an architect named 
George Hadfield, and commenced in 1820, out of 
the proceeds of the sale of a lottery privilege 
granted to the Corporation by Congress; but from 
the failure of tlie lottery agent, it has been mainly 
built out of the funds of the GorporatJon. The 
outside is not yet finished, it being intended to be 
stuccoed, and to have porticoes in the centre and 
a colonnade at each end. 

The City Hall is built on a reservation called 
Judiciary square, and which terminates Four-and- 
a-half street. Immediately north of the City Hall, 
stands the old Jail, and on the northeast angle of the 
square has recently been erected a spacious brick 
edifice of the Gothic order, three stories high, stained 
to resemble granite, and neatly designed, which will 
hereafter be used as the Jail of the county. The 
defectiveness and bad construction of the old Jail 
induced Congress to appropriate a sufficient sum 
for the construction of the one just built, which, it 
is hoped, will be free from the serious objections 
made to the former. 

The eastern half of the City Hall is occupied 
by the Circuit and Criminal Courts of the United 
States for the county, and their offices, for which 
Congress gave but $10,000. The Court room oc- 
cupies half the centre of the building; and the first 
floor of the eastern projection, on each side of the 
corridor, is occupied by the Clerk of the Court, 
the District Attorney, and the Marshal. The se- 
cond story is appropriated to the use of the grand 



CITY HALL. 83 

and; petit juries, and the basement story is occupied 
oy attorneys and others, who rent the rooms of the 
Corporation. 

CIRCUIT COURT. 

The Circuit Courts of the United States have 
original cognizance of all suits of a civil nature at 
common law, or in equity, where the matter in 
dispute exceeds, exclusive of costs, the sum or value 
of $500, and the United States are the plaintiffs or 
petitioner, or an alien is a party, or the suit is be- 
tween a citizen of the State where the suit is brought 
and a citizen of another State. But no person can 
be arrested in one District for trial in another, in 
any civil action, before a Circuit or District Court. 
No civil suit can be brought before either of said 
courts against an inhabitant of the United States 
by an original process in any other District than 
that whereof he is an inhabitant, or in which he 
shall be found at the time of serving the writ; and 
no District or Circuit Court has cognizance of any 
suit to recover the contents of any promissory note, 
or other chose in action, in favor of an assignee, 
unless a suit might have been prosecuted in such 
court to recover the said contents, if no assign- 
ment had been made, except in case of foreign 
bills of exchange. The Circuit Courts also have 
appellate jurisdiction from the District Courts, 
under the regulations and restrictions provided by 
law. From final decrees in a District Court, in 
causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, 
where the matter in dispute exceeds $300, exclu- 
sive of costs, an appeal is allowed to the next Cir- 



84 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

cuit Court to be held in such District. But no 
District Judge (sitting in a Circuit Court) can 
give a vote in any case of appeal or error from 
his own decision, but may assign the reason for 
such decision. 

The Circuit Court of the District of Columbia 
holds its sessions in the City Hall, for Washington 
County, on the fourth Monday in March, and the 
fourth Monday in November. In Alexandria, for 
Alexandria County, on the first Monday in May, 
and the first Monday in October ; and the District 
Court sits on the first Mondays in June and De- 
cember. 

CRIMINAL COURT. 

This court, from the inconvenient interming- 
ling of the criminal with the civil business of the 
Circuit Court, and the long sessions of that court, 
which it necessarily occasioned, was established 
about four years ago, for the exclusive trial of 
criminal cases occurring within the District of 
Coiunibia. The first Judge, T. F. Mason, died 
soon after his appointment, and James Dunlap, 
of Georgetown, was appointed his successor. The 
salary of the Judge is $2,000 per annum. In case 
of sickness, or other legal cause occurring to pre- 
vent the attendance of the Judge, the Chief Judge 
of the Circuit Court, and in case of his sickness, 
the senior Associate Judge, shall preside in this 
court; and an appeal is allowed from the Crimi- 
nal to the Circuit Court of the District. It holds 
its sessions six times a year : in Washington Coun- 
ty, on the last Monday in December, second Mon- 



CITY POST OFFICE. 85 

day in March, first Monday in June, and fourth 
Monday in October; and in Alexandria County, 
on the first Mondays in April and November. 

The basement story of the western projection of 
the City Hall is occupied by Attorneys' offices ; 
the oflice of the Register of Wills, and the 

ORPHANS' COURT 

For the County of Washington. This court sits 
in the above county every Tuesday and Friday, in 
each vi^eek ; an extra session is held whenever the 
public interest may require it. 

The first story of the western projection of the 
Hall is occupied by the offices of the Mayor, Re- 
gister and Clerks, Collector of Taxes, and Survey- 
or of the city; and the second story by the Board 
of Aldermen and Board of Common Council. 

THE CITY POST OFFICE. 

This office occupies the lower room or base- 
ment story of Carusi's Saloon, situated on the cor- 
ner of C and Eleventh street west. Its present 
location will, it is to be presumed, be but for a 
short time. A commodious and suitable building 
should be erected, on or near the Pennsylvania 
avenue, in the centre of business, for its accom- 
modation. This office is open daily, from eight 
A. M. to nine P M., except when assorting the 
mail, and on Sunday, when it is open, from eight 
to nine, A. M., from twelve to one, and from eight 
to nine, P. M. 



86 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

THE WASHINGTON CANAL, &c. 

This cana], until 1831, belonged to a private 
company, and was imperfectly constructed. At 
that time the Corporation purchased all the rights 
of the company in the canal, and proceeded 
to complete it, in a manner highly creditable to 
the city. It extends fram the termination of the 
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, at Seventeenth street 
west, to which it is connected by a lock at that 
street, to the Eastern branch. The canal and all 
the basins are walled with stone on both sides, 
throughout its whole length. From Seventeenth 
to Fourteenth street, is a spacious basin five hun- 
dred feet wide; from Fourteenth to Sixth street, 
where there is another ample basin, its width 
is one hundred and fifty feet; and from Eighth 
street to its termination in the Eastern branch, its 
width varies from forty-five to eighty feet, and its 
depth is four feet below low tide throughout. At 
its eastern terminus there is anotiier spacious ba- 
sin, and a wharf which extends to the channel. 
The cost of this canal has been $230,000, and 
the annual expense in keeping up the bridges 
which cross it, and making the excavations and 
repairs necessary to render it navigable, is consid- 
erable. 

A substantial wooden Bridge, nearly a mile in 
length, crosses the Potomac, at the western end of 
Maryland avenue, and leading to Alexandria and 
Virginia, which has been built at the expense of 
the Government; and three icooden bridges cross 
the Eastern branch, which were built by indivi- 
duals and private companies, but which, it is ex- 



MARKETS. 87 

pected, will soon be substituted by one substantial 
free bridge^ to be erected by the Government, that 
the same facility of access to the city majr be af- 
forded to Maryland as has been to Virginia. 

Near the Potomac bridge are several wharves, 
for the accommodation of steamboats and other 
vessels coming to the city ; and several also on 
the Eastern branch, west of the Navy Yard, used 
for the landing- of lumber, wood, coal, stone, and 
other articles brought to this market. 

There are three Turnpike Roads, one leading 
from the city to Montgomery Court House, one to 
Alexandria, and one to Baltimore. 



MARKET HOUSES, 

The city has four market houses, one in the First 
ward, one on Capitol Hill, one at the Navy Yard, 
and one in the centre, between Seventh and Ninth 
streets, and near Pennsylvania avenue. This is the 
principal market of the city, and in the quality 
and abundance of the commodities brought there 
for sale, is not excelled by any market in the 
United States. Markets are held every other day, 
Sundays excepted, throughout the year — from the 
1st of May till the 1st of October, from four till 
nine o'clock in the morning, and from the 1st of 
October till the 1st of May, from five to ten o'clock. 
A market is also held every Saturday evening, at 
each of the Market Houses in the city, and to 
each Market House there is a clerk of the mar- 
ket, appointed by the Mayor and Board of Alder- 
men, whose duty it is to see the laws enforced and 

D 1 



eb GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

the market kept clean ; for which he receives, in 
the Centre Market, one dollar, and in the other two 
markets, seventy- five cents per diem, for every day 
he attends. An assistant clerk is appointed for the 
Centre Market, who receives seventy-five cents 
per day. 

TIBER. 

This stream runs through the city in a south- 
west direction, and formerly emptied into the Po- 
tomac, but now it flows into the canal at Third 
street. It was once called Goose creek, and ex- 
panded towards its mouth to a considerable width. 
Its banks were originally covered with trees and 
underwood of different kinds, and formed a roman- 
tic stream, which was overspread in spring and 
autumn with wild ducks, and often penetrated as 
far as the present railroad depot, by multitudes of 
shad, herring, pike, perch, &c. 

This stream is said to have derived its classical 
name from an European who owned a farm near 
the Capitol, and whose name was Pope ; but the 
name is found in deeds at least a century old. 
He called his farm Rome, the stream at the bot- 
tom of it the Tiber, and the hill Capitol hill, on 
which he predicted, many years before the event 
took place, that a magnificent edifice would be 
erected which would be called the Capitol. 

CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL 
COMPANY. 

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company de- 
rives its power from a charter granted by the 



CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL. 89 

Legislatures of the States of Maryland, Pennsyl- 
vania and Virginia, and assented to by the Congress 
of the United States. Its object is to connect the 
waters of Chesapeake bay with those of the river 
Ohio. The capital of the company is unlimited, 
and is made up of individual, State, and other cor- 
porate subscriptions. Of this, the United States 
have taken $1,000,000, the city of Washington 
$1,000,000, the cities of Georgetown and Alex- 
andria $250,000 each, the State of Maryland 
$5,000,000, the State of Virginia $250,000. The 
funds of the company have been increased from 
time to time, by loans, of greater or less amount, 
as exigencies have required. 

The canal is arranged into three grand divi- 
sions, denominated the Eastern, Middle, and West- 
ern sections. The first extends from Georgetown, 
in the District of Columbia, to Cumberland, in the 
State of Maryland, following the left bank of the 
Potomac river, with such occasional divergences 
therefrom as the face of the country and facilities 
of construction require. The survey of the middle 
and western sections has not been definitely made; 
consequently the precise location and distance are 
not correctly ascertained. 

Operations were first commenced on the Eastern 
section on the 4th of July, 1828, when ground was 
broken by John Gluincy Adams, then President of 
the United States, in presence of a large concourse 
of citizens, assembled to witness the ceremony. 
Since that period, the canal has been completed 
from Georgetown to dam No. 6, a point above the 
town of Hancock, a distance of one hundred and 
ihirty-six miles from tide water. On this portion 
d2 



90 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

there are fifty-three locks, one hundred feet in 
length between the g-ates, by fifteen in breadth, and 
averaging eight feet lift; one hundred and fifty 
culverts, of various dimensions, many of them suf- 
ficiently spacious to admit the passage of wagons; 
and several aqueducts, as follows: 

No, 1, over Seneca Creek, 2 arches of 30 ft. span each. 

2, do. Monocacy River, 7 do. of 54 do. 

3, do. Catocten Creek, 3 do. 2 of 20 and 1 of 28 ft. 

4, do. Antietam Creek, 3 do. 2 of 24 and 1 of 48 ft. 

5, do. Conococh'gue Cr. 3 do. 60 ft. span each. 

6, do. Licking Creek, 1 do. 90 do. 

7, do. Gt.TonalowaCr.l do. 62 do. 

This extent of the canal is fed from the Poto- 
mac by six darns across the river, of from five hun- 
dred to eight hundred feet in length, and from four 
to twenty feet elevation. The breadth of water 
surface is sixty feet for the first sixty miles above 
Georgetown ; for the remaining distance fifty feet, 
and six feet depth throughout the entire line. The 
aqueducts, locks and culverts are constructed of 
stone, laid in hydraulic cement. 

That portion of the canal now under contract 
extends from dam No. 6 to Cumberland, (the west- 
ern terminus of the eastern section,) a distance of 
fifty miles. On this line there will be twenty-two 
locks, forty culverts, two dams, and four aque- 
ducts, as follows: 

No. 8, over Sideling Hill Creek, 1 arch of 70 feet span. 
9, do. Fifteen- Mile Creek, 1 do. 50 do. 

10, do. Town Creek, 1 do. 60 do. 

11, do. Evitt's Creek, 1 do. 70 do. 
About midway of this distance is a funnel, 

through the spur of a mountain, called the ''Paw- 
paw Ridge." This tunnel is three thousand one 



CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL. 91 

hundred and eighteen feet in length, from the 
northern to the southern portal, and twenty-four 
feet in diameter, with an elevation of seventeen 
feet in the clear above water surface, through solid 
blue argillaceous slate rock as far as the excava- 
tion has been made. The perpendicular shafts are 
in operation, one, one hundred and eighty-eight 
feet, the other one hundred and twenty-two feet in 
depth; from the bottom of these shafts the drilling 
and blasting proceeds horizontally north and south, 
the core being elevated to the surface by machinery. 
The highest point of the mountain above the tun- 
nel bottom is three hundred and seventy-eight feet. 
From the southern portal the longitudinal perfo- 
ration exceeds eight hundred feet. The passage 
through this mountain saves the distance of five 
miles of heavy rock excavation, the cost of which 
was estimated to equal that of the tunnel. It is 
now considered more than half accom.plished. 

At Cumberland a spacious basin is in the course 
of construction, to be filled from the river by dam 
No. 8, located at the lower end of the town. The 
basin is intended for the convenience of the coal 
trade; the coal region commencing a few miles 
from the river, and extending inland to an unde- 
termined distance. 

The Middle section will leave the river at this 
point, by the valley of Wills Creek, whence it 
crosses the Savage mountain, by a tunnel four 
miles in length, and strikes the head waters of the 
Youghiogeny river, at which point the Middle 
section will probably terminate. The Western 
section passes from thence down the valley of the 
Youghiogenv to its confluence with the Monon- 
d3 



92 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

gahela river, and from thence by the valley of the 
Monongahela to Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, the 
head of steamboat navigation on the river Ohio. 

The aggregate expenditure on account of the 
canal, from its commencement to May 31, 1839, 
the close of the fiscal year, has been $8,591,760 
37. It is estimated that the additional sum of $3,- 
000,000 will complete it to Cumberland; and that, 
on the opening of the navigation, there will be a 
direct and continuous canal from the Capital of 
the United States to the vast and inexhaustible 
coal region of Alleghany county, in Maryland. 

The company holds its office in Frederick, Ma- 
ryland, and the Board of Directors, who are elected 
annually, meet once a week. 



FACTORIES. 

Among the factories which have been establish- 
ed in this city are two, a Glass House and Brew- 
ery, which have been in existence for some years, 
and are in a flourishing condition. The window 
glass made at the former is superior to most glass 
made in this country, and is held by glaziers and 
others in high estimation. This factory has been 
erected near the Potomac for the convenience of 
water, and stands near a wharf where, fifty years 
ago, ships of considerable burden were accustomed 
to anchor. The depth of water in the river at that 
place was not more than two feet before the Ches- 
apeake and Ohio Canal was excavated. The 
channel has been filled up by the deposite of sedi- 
ment brought down the river, and a new one is 



FACTORIES. 93 

now forming on the Virginia side. This part of 
the city was originally called Hamburgh ; and 
afterwards Fiinkstow7i, from an old Dutchman, 
who was ambitious of having his name (Funk) 
transmitted to posterity. He subsequently re- 
moved to a spot near Hagerstown, in Maryland, 
and was so far successful as to give his name to 
the small village called Fiinkstown. Near a rock 
which rises from the Potomac, west of the Glass 
House, General Braddock is said to have landed 
with his army on his way to the west, and the 
rock was called by the old inhabitants Braddock's 
rock, and the place near it Braddock's landing. 
The elevated ground in the neighborhood is a pub- 
lic reservation, and originally intended as a site 
for a National University, which General Wash- 
ington w^as anxious to see established, and which 
succeeding Presidents earnestly and repeatedly 
recommended, but constitutional difficulties always 
presented a barrier to the execution of this lauda- 
ble design. 

The Brewery is located n'^ar Rock creek, and 
the malt liquors brewed at that establishment have 
a high reputation. Large quantities are annually 
brewed and exported to different parts of the coun- 
try. It was originally established and is still 
owned and carried on by Mr. William Hayman, 
an enterprising and industrious citizen. 

It may be well to mention here that but few cities 
in the United States afford greater facilities for 
manufactories than Washington and its sister 
Georgetown. The water power is immense, the 
fuel cheap, and the material will be easily procured 
when the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal shall have 
d4 



94 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

been carried to Cumberland. Immense quantities 
of the finest coal will be brought to the city by 
this canal, and the inhabitants will not only be fur- 
nished with a cheap fuel, but the whole country 
can be supplied from the inexhaustible coal beds 
near Cumberland. There is no doubt but that this 
will in time become a wealthy and prosperous 
manufacturing city, as well as one where the 
arts, sciences and literature will flourish. The 
latter must necessarily thrive where no sudden 
influx of wealth or commercial speculations occur, 
to divert the mind from the pursuit of knowledge 
and the uidulgence of refined taste. "What the 
illustrious Washington, whose views were always 
noble and expanded, failed to accomplish, the libe- 
rality of a foreigner will be able to effect. The 
legacy of Mr. Smithson, if properly and judicious- 
ly expended, will yet realize the wish of the father 
of his country, in regard to the establishment of 
a National University, by making the institution 
he desired to be formed one where every branch 
of useful knowledge shall be taught by gratuitous 
lectures, and where wisdom and science can be 
inculcated without expense to the recipient. This 
institution, when established, will render the city 
a place of resort to men of taste and leisure, who, 
with their families, will come to derive the benefit 
as well as the gratification which will result from 
attending the various lectures of the most learned 
and distinguished professors. 

The city abounds in the finest clay for the manu- 
facture of bricks, and the gray and blue granite, 
breccia marble, and beautiful sandstone arc found 
in great abundance along the line of the Chesapeake 



FACTORIES. 95 

and Ohio Canal, which can easily be brought 
down to it when wanted. It is admitted that the 
clay in portions of the city is superior to that of 
almost any other part of the country, and that no 
bricks can surpass those made here in point of 
durability and hardness, and those can be manu- 
factured to any extent, and for a moderate price. 

At present the size of the unimproved squares 
and lots, and the general sparseness of the popula- 
tion affords fine opportunities and inducements for 
the cultivation of gardens. The soil is naturally 
strong, and can easily be enriched. The finest 
vegetables, fruits and flowers have of late years 
been produced, especially since the establishment 
of the Horticultural society, whose exhibitions have 
indicated the greatest improvement in those vege- 
table productions. A taste for horticulture has 
been engendered by the exertions of this society 
and those of the inhabitants. Ornamental trees 
and shrubs are here of rapid growth, and almost 
every dwelling is decorated with these useful as 
well as beautiful ornaments. Mr. Knapp in speak- 
ing of this city in his sketches, has very justly re- 
marked, that "the soil and climate are well suited 
for all the fruits of the temperate zone. Peaches, 
plums, apples, and almost every other fruit are or 
may be raised of the first order. Washington is 
the happiest region of flowers. A garden here 
might be made to yield something for the basket 
of Flora for nearly three-quarters of the year; 
with a small expense a fountain might be made in 
every garden, to refresh the vegetation in the 
warmest seasons of the year. After the most 
prominent sites for business are filled up in the 
d5 



96 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

city, a better taste will prevail in erecting domicils, 
and those dwellings a little removed from the bus- 
tle, will not be complete or satisfactory without a 
garden of flowers." This is now done to a cer- 
tain extent, and almost every dwelling has a gar- 
den attached to it, for ornament or usefulness. 



CHURCHES. 

The city contains twenty-three places of public 
worship: Three Episcopalian, viz: Christ church, 
near the Navy Yard ; Trinity church, near the 
City Hall; and St. John's "Church, north of the 
President's square. 

Four Presbyterian churches, viz : 1st. on Four- 
and-a-half street; 2d. on F street; 3d. near Fif- 
teenth street west; and 4th. on Ninth street. 

Three Catholic chapels, viz: St. Peter's, on Se- 
cond street, Capitol Hill ; St. Patrick's, on F street; 
and St. Matthew's, on H street west. 

Three Methodist Episcopal churches ; one Me- 
thodist Protestant, on Ninth, between E and F 
streets; three Baptist churches; one Unitarian 
church ; One Friends Meeting, and four African 
churches. 

The founders of the First Presbyterian church 
in this city, for the want of a suitable place of 
worship, were under the necessity of using a large 
carpenter's shop, two stories in height, and erect- 
ed for the accommodation of the joiners employed 
on the President's House, in 1793. When this 
temporary building was demolished, a frame edi- 
fice was constructed, on a lot of ground near St. 



LITERATURE ANE SCIENCE. 97 

Patrick's church, granted to the congregation by 
David Burns, one of the original proprietors. The 
lot having been subsequently reclaimed, the con- 
gregation, which had greatly increased in num- 
bers, erected a plain brick church, at the foot of 
the Capitol Hill, on South Capitol street, in which 
they worshipped for many years. This being found 
somewhat inconvenient for the larger portion of 
the congregation, it was disposed of to a congre- 
gation of persons of color, who still hold it, and 
the one now on Four-and-a-half street was built in 
1826, and has been occupied ever since by the 
members of the First Presbyterian church. 



LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 

Not much attention has been paid to literature 
and science in Washington. Those in office are 
too much devoted to their official duties, and those 
out of office to other pursuits calculated to yield 
them support or increase their wealth, to appro- 
priate much of their time to literary or scientific 
occupations. 

Politics, too, engross a large share of public at- 
tention here, and though the population is intelli- 
gent, there is not the same partiality or fondness 
evinced for literature and science as in most of the 
northern cities. Newspapers and periodicals con- 
stitute the principal reading of the community, and 
few books are sold here to citizens, except such 
as they cannot dispense with. A new order of 
things will, however, arise in the Metropolis, 
when the population becomes more dense, and 
d6 



98 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

wealth, and consequent leisure shall be more ex- 
tended. The Smithsonian Institute, if judiciously- 
established, will also be the means of begetting a 
more enlarged love of literature and science, by 
the gratuitous diffusion of every branch of know- 
ledge, which will fall within the legitimate sphere of 
its organization ; and the National Institution, with 
its splendid collections in natural history, and the 
efforts of its members in all branches of science and 
literature, will give an impulse to the public mind, 
and a stimulus to individual taste in this city, that 
will elevate it to a rank in letters and science 
equal to that of any other city in the Union. 



THE LEGAL AND MEDICAL PROFES- 
SIONS. 

The members of the bar in Washington are not 
very numerous ; but some of them are talented 
and well versed in the legal science. The busi- 
ness transacted in the Circuit Court does not often 
involve questions of great complexity ; but these 
do sometimes occur, and the whole learning and 
research of the bar are put in requisition. The 
practice does not appear to be very lucrative, and 
the business, as usual, is mostly done by a few of 
the older members of the bar. It has sometimes 
been distinguished for its eloquence, and in point 
of respectability, does not rank below that of most 
other cities. It does not, however, present a pro- 
per field for a young lawyer. The business gen- 
erally is not of such a character as to call forth 
great intellectual exertion or profound research, 



LEGAL AND MEDICAL PROFESSIONS. 99 

nor does it often afford opportunities for the dis- 
play of great eloquence. At the bar of the Crimi- 
nal Court, to be sure, cases sometimes occur, in 
which great ingenuity may be displayed, and a 
knowledge of criminal law, and all the powers of 
forensic eloquence developed. But these cases are 
rare. No man can be eloquent as an advocate 
among assaults and batteries and petty larcenies. 
It is only when crimes of the deepest dye, or of- 
fences which shock or disturb the moral sense of 
the community are perpetrated, and where inno- 
cence has been made the victim of deliberate vil- 
lany, or the conjugal tie severed by treachery, that 
a high order of eloquence can be displayed ; and 
those crimes and offences but seldom occur here. 
The mere plodding man of business, dull, but re- 
gular, industrious and honest, finds his profession 
more lucrative than one much more highly gifted, 
but less desirous to accumulate, and who seeks the 
'' bauble reputation," more than to " put money in 
his purse." The stimulus, too, which the pros- 
pect of attaining distinction and rank in public 
life, presented to the aspirant in the States, does 
not exist here. He feels the melancholy convic- 
tion, that whatever may be the power of his elo- 
quence, or the variety and extent of his attain- 
ments, he can never hope to rise above the condi- 
tion of a lawyer, as long as he remains within the 
pale of disfranchisement, within which, either vo- 
luntarily or from necessity, he has cast himself. 

The Medical Faculty have become nume- 
rous in this city, as they are in all parts of our 
country. There are but few who find the profes- 
sion lucrative. The city is too heahhy to furnish 
d7 



100 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

an abundant medical harvest. The average num- 
ber of deaths annually is about two hundred and 
fifty, (most of these among infants,) out of a popu- 
lation of near twenty-four thousand, which is about 
one out of one hundred and fifty, and which serves 
to indicate the extraordinary healthiness of the 
Metropolis 

A medical school, connected with the Columbian 
College, has been established for several years, and 
from the increasing number of students, from vari- 
ous and distant parts of the Union, and the learn- 
ing and ability of those who fill the difiercnt chairs, 
it promises, at no distant day, to equal any of the 
medical schools in the United States. The locality, 
too, for such an institution is highly favorable, af- 
fording as it does to the young students constant 
opportunities of observing the operations of the 
Government, and of seeing and knowing all the 
leading and distinguished public men of the coun- 
try. 

THE WASHINGTON LIBRARY. 

This library belongs to a private company, 
which was incorporated by Congress, in 1814. It 
has been gradually increasing till it has reached 
about six thousand volumes, in every department 
of literature. It is managed by a Board of Direct- 
ors, elected annually, who choose their President, 
Treasurer, and Librarian. Each shareholder is 
entitled to take books from the library, under cer- 
tain restrictions, and to assign over the right of 
reading to another, but he is held responsible for 
the fines and forfeitures, which the assignee may 



LIBRARIES. 101 

incur. The library is kept open from three to six 
o'clock, P. M., every day, and to sunset when the 
sun sets later. Persons not shareholders can have 
the privilege of using this library, upon subscrib- 
ing five dollars per annum, three dollars for six 
months, two dollars for three months, and one dol- 
lar for one month, to be paid in advance, on a de- 
posite of double the price of the book, or set of 
books borrowed. This library is kept in a build- 
ing owned by the company, on Eleventh street 
west, opposite to the City Post Office. 

In addition to the above, another library has 
been formed by a number of enterprising young 
men, called the "Apprentices' Library, " which 
consists of about two thousand volumes. It has 
been made up by contributions from them, and 
donations of books made by citizens, who felt an 
interest in the success of the enterprise. The City 
Councils have, with commendable liberality, ap- 
propriated rooms in the basement story of the City 
Hall for the accommodation of this library, which 
has been attended with great benefit to the young- 
apprentices and others of the city. 

Besides the above there are, also, two Circu- 
lating Libraries, kept by Mr. F. Taylor, and 
Mr. William Morrison, on Pennsylvania avenue, 
which are much used by citizens and strangers, 
though the works they contain are almost exclu- 
sively those of imagination, which daily issue 
from the press of England and this country. 

Among the objects of attraction in the fine arts 
to be found in Washington, is the gallery of paint- 
ings owned by Mr. C. King, an eminent portrait 
painter. 

d8 



102 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

KING'S GALLERY. 

This neat and beautiful gallery is situated on 
Twelfth street west, near F street. The edifice is 
of wood, twenty-seven feet front by thirty-eight feet 
deep, with a room in the rear, and a neat portico 
in front. The lower room contains about one hun- 
dred fine paintings, consisting of portraits, land- 
scapes, fancy pieces, &c. Among these the most 
beautiful, are the following: Nos. 2 and 3, Land- 
scapes; Nos. 22 and 27, beautiful portraits of the 

Misses S ; No. 18, the Environs of Milan; 

No. 19, an admirable and spirited head of a Drunk- 
ard; No, 30, '*I am not mad," very fine; No. 56, 
the Itinerant Artist; No. 58, Rip Van Winkle's 
reception by his wife after his morning lounge, 
■&c. 

In the gallery or upper room there are about 
one hundred and sixty paintings, consisting, as in 
the lower room, of the portraits of distinguished 
men and others, most admirably executed, and un- 
surpassed as likenesses. Those of Mr. Southard, 
Woodbury, Crawford, Rush, R. Lawrence, Mrs. 
S. H. Smith, &c., are inimitable. The landscapes, 
fruit pieces, views, &c., are executed with great 
skill and fidelity. Most of the pieces in both of 
these rooms, as well as in the passage leading up 
to the gallery, are from the pencil of our estimable 
■fellow-citizen Mr. Charles King, who seems de- 
voted to his fascinating and beautiful art. The 
Tooms are handsomely furnished, affording to the 
amateur and admirer of the arts one of the most 
agreeable lounges in Washington. It is the only 
collection of paintings in this city, and though not 



PUBLICATIONS. 103 

very extensive, is equal, if not superior to any in 
this country in beauty of coloring and skilfulness 
of execution. 

There are also several talented lithog-raphers, 
copper and steel engravers, and a few portrait and 
miniature painters. The city contains one Theatre^ 
the National^ situated on E street, between Thir- 
teenth and Fourteenth streets; two Masonic Halls; 
several large taverns, and a number of steamboats. 
It is well watered with springs, pumps and hy- 
drants, and the water itself is unequalled. 

NEWSPAPERS, PERIODICALS AND LITERARY AND 
SCIENTIFIC WORKS PUBLISHED IN WASHING- 
TON. 

The first account of the District of Columbia 
was written by Colonel Lear, an aid to General 
Washington, which is now out of print. The 
next was by Dr. Warden, a copy of which is to 
be found in the Library of Congress, and subse- 
quently, various descriptions of the National Me- 
tropolis were given by the author of the present 
work, P. Force, Wm. Elliot, J. Sessford, Knapp, 
and others. The first newspaper established in 
Washington was the National Intelligencer^ in 
1800, by Samuel H. Smith, when this city became 
the seat of the Federal Government. At the same 
time a weekly paper was published by the same 
person, called the United States Gazette. The 
Intelligencer became a daily paper some years 
ago, is now the property of, and edited by Messrs. 
Gales & Seaton, and has an extensive circula- 
tion. The next paper established was the Weekly 



104 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Messenger J in 1807, by John B, Colvin, who, in 
1808, changed its name to the Washington Mon- 
itor. This was succeeded by the Washington 
Expositor.^ conducted by Dinmore & Cooper. In 
1812, the Washington City Gazette^ published by 
William Elliot, and edited by George Watterston, 
was established, and at about the same time the 
Senator^ by Wm. Cummings. In 1822, the Wash- 
ifigton Republican w^as got up, and in 1 823, the 
National Journal, published by Peter Force, 
which first appeared twice a week, and afterwards 
daily. In 1824, the Telegraph was first esta- 
blished, and afterwards purchased by Duff Green, 
and called the United States Telegraph ; this pa- 
per had, for many years, great influence and an 
extensive circulation. The Columbian Star, a re- 
ligious paper, afterwards transferred to Philadel- 
phia. The Theological Repository and the Co- 
lumbian Register, also rehgious, existed for a short 
time. The Weekly Messenger, edited by Mrs. 
Colvin, the talented and intelligent widow of J. B. 
Colvin, was commenced in 1817, The National 
Register, a political paper, published, by J. K. 
Meade, and edited by George Watterston, was esta- 
blished in 1816. The Washinglon City Chronicle, 
a literary paper, published weekly, by Rothwell 
& Ustick, and edited by George Watterston, was 
established in 1828. The Washington Mirror, 
by William Thompson, was commenced in 1834, 
and afterwards changed to the Metropolitan^ and 
edited by R. Dawes. 

None of these papers, with the exception of the 
Intelligencer, arc now in existence. Tlie African 
Repository, edited by Ralph R. Gurlcy, late Sc- 



PUBLICATIONS. 105 

cretary of the Colonization Society, was established 
some years ago, and still continues to be published. 
In 1831, the Globe, published by Messrs. Blair & 
Rives, was g-ot up, and was the organ of the Go- 
vernment till the beginning of the present Admin- 
istration, The Madisonian has been in existence 
for a few years, and is now the organ of the Ad- 
ministration; and the Independent has recently- 
been established. The only literary periodical 
published in Washington was the Democratic Re- 
view, published monthly, and edited by Mr. S. D. 
Langtree, which has since been transferred to New- 
York. 

Works of literature and science have, from 
time to time; issued from the press of this city. 
The first work published here was on Statistics, 
by Samuel Blodget, one of the earliest settlers in 
Washington. He was followed by Augustus B. 
Woodward, who wrote a Treatise on the Sub- 
stance of the Sun, which, with that of Mr. Blodget, 
is to be found in the Library of Congress. He 
was a man of great attainments and considerable 
eccentricity. Dr. Thomas Ewell published a 
work on Chemistry, and his brother, James Ewell, 
an improved edition of a valuable work, prepared 
by him, called the Medical Companion. Mr. Tho- 
mas Law published a Treatise on Currency, and 
one on Instinctive Impulses. This gentleman was 
one of the most active and zealous friends of this 
city, the prosperity of which he labored, in every 
way, to promote. G. Watterston has written and 
published at different times, the folio wing- works : 
Letters from Washington : Course of Study pre- 
paratory to the Bar and the Senate ; History of 



106 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Rome, in Questions and Answers, for the use of 
Schools ; L Family ; Wanderer in Wash- 
ington; Gallery of American Portraits; Tabular 
Statistics, &c. Mrs. Smith, two novels : the Win- 
ter in Washington, and What is Gentility? Mr. 
Peter Force, the National Calender; Henry Lee's 
Memoirs; Adlum on the Vine; History of the 
Mediterranean Trade ; Historical Tracts, 2 vols. 
8vo. ; Transactions of the American Historical 
Society, 1 vol. 8vo. ; and he and M. St. Clair 
Clarke have now in the course of publication the 
Documentary History of the United States, a val- 
uable work in twenty folio volumes. Messrs. 
Gales & Seaton have published the Congressional 
Debates, American State Papers, in 18 volumes 
folio, &c. Duff Green, a collection of Land Laws, 
in 3 folio volumes, and two or three other works. 
Messrs. Clarke and Hall, a History of the United 
States Bank, a volume of Land Laws, &c. Jona- 
than Elliot, Debates on the Constitution, 4 vols. 8 vo.; 
and Diplomacy of the United States, 4 vols. 8vo., 
a highly esteemed and valuable compilation. 



PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

The city contains two Public Free Schools; 
one in the Second, and one in the Fourth Ward. 
These schools were for many years supported out 
of the Ward funds, but are now maintained out 
of a fund created by the sale of a lottery privi- 
lege, granted to the Corporation by Congress, 
some years ago. The average number of chil- 
dren, male and female, annually educated at these 



COLLEGES. 107 

schools, is about two hundred and fifty, who are 
gratuitously taught reading, writing and arithme- 
tic. They are under the management of a Board 
of Trustees for each School District, who are 
chosen every year. The annual expense of sup- 
porting these Free Schools is about $1,700; and 
the six per cent, stocks held for the School Fund 
amounted in July, 1841, to $48,400 yielding year-- 
ly an interest of $2,904, and leaving a consequent 
annual surplus, which is regularly invested to 
create a fund for the endowment and support of a 
third school at some future period, 

A portion of this surplus has lately been appro- 
priated by the City Councils to the support of two 
female charity schools, which have been establish- 
ed and are managed by some benevolent ladies of 
the city. 

In addition to these Free Schools, the city 
abounds in well supported seminaries of learning, 
established in various localities, in which the youth 
of both sexes are well instructed in the usual 
branches of education, both useful and ornament- 
al. 

COLLEGES. 

In the neighborhood of Washington are two 
colleges, the Columbian and the Georgetown. 

Columbian College. — This college is situa- 
ted on a beautiful elevation, not far from the north- 
ern boundary line of the city. It was founded by the 
Baptists, some years ago, and has been aided by 
donations of city lots made to it by Congress. Its 
locahty, like that near Georgetown, is beautiful, 
and the prospect from the roof of the college most 



108 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

extensive and magnificent. The college year is di- 
vided into two sessions, a winter session commen- 
cing- on the first Wednesday of November, and 
terminating on the first Wednesday of May ; the 
summer, on the first Wednesday in July, and 
ending on the first Wednesday of October; when 
the annual commencement for conferring degrees, 
&c., is held. Alter the summer session there is a 
vacation of one month ; after the winter session one 
of two months, May and June. This arrangement 
gives students the advantage of spending the sick- 
ly season on College Hill, a spot not surpassed in 
healthfulness by any in the Union. The students 
are permitted occasionally to hear the arguments 
in the United States Supreme Court, and the de- 
bates in Congress. 

Owing to pecuniary embarrassments, this insti- 
tution, for some years past, has been arrested in 
the progress which it was rapidly making towards 
a rank among the first of our Universities; but its 
prospects are now again brightening, and it will 
probably soon acquire that reputation that might 
have been expected from the advantages of its 
locality, and the learning and ability of its pro- 
fessors. 

The Georgetown College, like the prece- 
ding, is beyond the limits of the city of Washing- 
ton, and is very beautifully situated on one of the 
heights of Georgetown, and commands a splendid 
prospect of the city, the Potomac, and surrounding 
country. It was established many years ago, by 
the Catholics, and in 1815 was made a University 
by Congress, with the power to grant degrees. 
The buildings are large and commodious, and the 



CONVENT. 109 

grounds around them laid out with great taste. 
The professors are numerous, learned, and pious, 
making no distinction between the Catholic and 
Protestant students. The system of education is 
liberal, and not the least bigoted, and youths of all 
denominations are freely admitted within the walls 
of this alma mater. The library is sufficiently 
large, and contains many old, rare, and valuable 
works, and the philosophical apparatus very com- 
plete. The alumni are well instructed, and the 
college has sent out several learned, able, and dis- 
tinguished scholars. The discipline is rigid, but 
salutary. As in the Columbian College, the stu- 
dents are permitted under the guidance of an usher 
to visit occasionally during their sessions the Su- 
preme Court and the two Houses of Congress, for 
the benefit of the living examples of excellence in 
forensic and parliamentary eloquence which they 
furnish. This institution is in a very flourishing 
and prosperous condition, and rapidly advancing 
in reputation and usefulness. 

Not far from this college is the Convent of 
Visitation, established about forty years ago, by 
Archbishop Neale, upon an improved plan. The 
Superior is elected triennially by the sister- 
hood, and is ineligible for more than two terms 
in succession. The number of nuns or sisters 
varies from fifty to eighty, all devoted to their re- 
ligious duties and the education of females. The 
younger sisters are designated to teach a free 
school ; but the boarding school for young ladies 
is the most valuable and flourishing. The sisters 
ure highly educated in science and literature, and 
the doctrines of Christianity. The great number 



no GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

of teachers in this establishment enables it to assign 
one teacher at least to each department of know- 
ledge, and she never quits it. All the useful and 
ornamental branches of education are taught here, 
and though last, not least, a knowledge of house- 
wifery, in which the pupils graduate, and enter into 
life with a thorough acquaintance "with the science 
of the kitchen, and the mysteries of the culinary 
art, without which no woman can be said to be all 
accomplished." The discipline is strict without 
being severe. A tender and sisterly vigilance and 
maternal watchfulness only are practised, and the 
pupils of all denominations, who are admitted in- 
discriminately into this institution, love, obey, and 
reverence their instructresses. 



ALMS HOUSE. 

The Corporation maintains an Alms House 
or Asylum, for the accommodation and support 
of poor, infirm, and diseased persons, and lunatics, 
at an annual expense of near $5,000. The Asy- 
lum stands some distance northwest of the City 
Hall, near Seventh street ; is a large but badly con- 
structed edifice of brick, and has attached to it a 
Work House or Penitentiary, where offenders 
against the penal laws of the Corporation are 
confined; but from the defective system existing, 
are not punished by being made to labor much. 
The Asylum is under the direction of six guar- 
dians, appointed annually by the Mayor, &c., and 
who must meet once a week, at least, to superin- 
tend the affairs of the Asylum, to attend to the 



ASYLUMS. Ill 

wants of ihe poor, and to provide for the interment 
of such as have not the means of burial. They 
receive $50 per annum each, and employ a Clerk 
at $100, and a Physician, who receives $200 
annually. The want of a Hospital for lunatics 
renders it necessary, though very inconvenient, to 
provide for their accommodation, in the same build- 
ing with the poor and infirm. These unfortunate 
persons are allowed two dollars a week each for 
their support, and the amount annually appropria- 
ted varies from five to seven hundred dollars. 

In consequence of the want of a Lunatic Asy- 
lum, which the Corporation never had the means 
of erecting, such unfortunate persons as were de- 
prived of reason, and had no friends to provide for 
them, were confined in the jail of the city for their 
own security, and that of the community. Con- 
gress sympathizing in their miserable condition, 
and desirous to meliorate it, passed an act, in 1841, 
directing the Marshal of the District to cause all 
lunatics who are paupers, now confined in the 
jails of Washington and Alexandria, and who may 
hereafter be committed as lunatics, to be conveyed 
to the Lunatic Asylum, of Baltimore, at the ex- 
pense of the Government, provided the whole ex- 
pense does not exceed three thousand dollars per 
annum. This act is to continue in force until the 
4th of March, 1843. 

There are two Female Orphan Asylums ; the 
St. Vincent's, under the direction of the Sisters 
of Charity, and the Washington, under the man- 
agement of an association of benevolent ladies of 
this city; both of which are valuable institutions, 
and have done, and are calculated to do much good. 



112 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 



SOCIETIES. 

The city contains numerous societies, fire com- 
panieSj and banking institutions. Of the formerj are 
the following: 

The Columbian Institute, established in 
1816, for the promotion of the arts and sciences, 
has been recently merged in the National Institu- 
tion. 

The Columbian Horticultural Society, 
established in 1833. The elfbrts of this society 
ha^ve been attended with great benefit to the District 
in the manifest improvement of its fruits, flowers, 
and vegetables. Its exhibitions are annual, and 
usually very splendid. 

The American Historical Society, esta- 
blished in 1835. Three volumes of transactions of 
this society have been published by Mr. Peter 
Force, consisting of rare and valuable pamphlets 
and papers, relating to the early history and affairs 
of this country, and collected and embodied by him. 
Two very able and interesting annual discourses 
have been delivered by Governor Cass and Secre- 
tary Woodbury, which form, with several tracts 
and pamphlets, the first volume of the transactions 
of the society. This society now forms a depart- 
ment of the National Institution. 

The Washington National Monument 
Society has been in existence for five years. Its 
object is to erect a monument to the memory of 
the Father of his country in this city, Avhich he 
selected as the Metropolis of the Nation. The 
officers consist of the President of the United 
States, as the ex-officio President of the Society ; 



WASHINGTON MONUMENT SOCIETY. 113 

three Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, and Secretary, 
and a Board of Managers, of thirteen members. 
Its first President was Judge Marshall, and its se- 
cond James Madison. All adult white male contri- 
butors are members, and the Vice-President of the 
United States, Heads of Departments of the Gen- 
eral Government, the Governors of the respective 
States and Territories, Judges of the Supreme 
Court, and members of the Senate and House of 
Representatives, are honorary members. The sum 
to be contributed by each individual was origi- 
nally limited to one dollar, but that limit has since 
been removed, and any amount can now be con- 
tributed. The names of the contributors are en- 
tered in a book for the purpose of being preserved 
in an apartment, to be prepared for that purpose in 
the monument. The collections made so far have 
been invested in safe stocks, yielding six per cent, 
interest, and the interest is again invested every 
six months. 

The following are the names of the officers of the 
society and members of the board of managers: 

President of the United States, President. 

William Cranch/>ls^ Vice-President. 

Mayor of Washington, 2d Vice-President. 

William W. Seaton, 3^^ Vice-President. 

Samuel H. Smith, Treasurer. 

George Watterston, Secretary. 
Managers. 

General N. Towson. Thomas Munroe, Esq. 

Colonel J. J. Abert. Thomas Carbery, Esq. 

Colonel A. Henderson. P. R. Fendall, Esq. 

Colonel James Kearney. Peter Force, Esq. 

William Brent, Esq. John McClelland, Esq. 

W. L. Brent, Esq. Wm. A. Bradley, Esq. 



114 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

NATIONAL INSTITUTION. 

This society was established in the year 1840, 
for the promotion of science. It holds its meetings 
monthly, in a room in the Patent Office, and its 
officers consist of a President, Vice-President, a 
Treasurer, Corresponding and Recording Secre- 
tary, and twelve Directors. The Secretaries of 
State, Treasury, War and Navy, and the Attor- 
ney General, and Postmaster General, of the Uni- 
ted States, are ex-officio Directors. The officers 
are elected by ballot, annually, on the first Mon- 
day in each year, and the resident and correspond- 
ing members are required to exert themselves to 
procure specimens of natural history, &c., to be 
placed in a cabinet under the superintendence of a 
curator or curators. The resident members are 
divided into departments, and the members com- 
posing each department are specially charged 
with the subjects embraced therein, and required 
to communicate to the institution the result of their 
inquiries, 

The Columbian Institute and American His- 
torical Society have been incorporated into this in- 
stitution, and form departments of it; and the so- 
ciety, from the energy and activity of its members, 
promises to become a very useful institution, and 
to accomplish the object for which it was esta- 
blished. 

The Hall of the National Institution is open 
daily (Sundays excepted) from eight A. M., to five 
P. M., without charge for admission. Ample pre- 
cautions have been taken to heat it comfortably in 
winter, and the arrangement of the collections is 
such as to give the greatest facility for their exami- 



NATIONAL INSTITUTION. 115 

nation consistent with their careful preservation. 
When ail the materials at present in possession of 
the institution shall have been arranged, they will 
doubtless present the best collection in the United 
States for prosecuting the study of natural histo- 
ry; whilst the accessions which they are constantly 
receiving must soon place it on a level with simi- 
lar institutions in older countries. These acces- 
sions, mostly in the form of voluntary contributions, 
show the interest already created in its favor, and 
is a gratifying evidence of the great anxiety every 
where, among those friendly to the promotion of 
knowledge, for its prosperity. 

The first place in the class of contributions must 
be given to the United States' Exploring Expedi- 
tion. The Government has very properly placed 
the whole of its rare and valuable collections in 
charge of the institution ; and it must be a source 
of pleasure to the friends of science to know, that 
they will now be properly prepared and pre- 
served. The organization of this institution at this 
juncture, is, on that account at least, peculiarly pro- 
pitious. Without it, these collections would pro- 
bably have been scattered among the different 
museums and private collections of the country, or 
been suffered to go to decay in the store-houses of 
Government. 

It is not an easy matter to give a satisfactory 
description of the collections of the National In- 
stitution, as a very large portion of them yet remain 
in the original packages or boxes. All the assist- 
ance which the funds at the disposal of the insti- 
tution would permit, has been constantly engaged 
in their preparation and arrangement, but much 



116 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

more time and means will be necessary for its ac- 
complishment. 

The walls of the Hall are covered by many 
valuable paintings, the most interesting of which 
is a series of Indian portraits, about one hundred 
and thirty in number, taken, under the direction of 
the War Department, by several of the most emi- 
nent artists. This collection has been many years 
known to the public, and, until placed in charge of 
the National Institution, was preserved in the 
office of the Secretary of War. The likeness of 
almost every Indian who has acquired any consi- 
derable celebrity within the last twenty or thirty 
years is to be found here. Some fine specimens of 
statuary, formerly belonging to the Columbian 
Institute, also grace the Hall. A respectable li- 
brary has been already formed, and, by its rapid 
increase, promises to keep pace with the other 
portions of the institution. 

The botanical collection, partially arranged, con- 
sists of between twenty and thirty thousand species, 
and perhaps three times as many specimens. The 
arrangements for the preservation and examina- 
tion of this valuable herbarium are such as to com- 
bine in the most satisfactory manner facility with 
safety. The friends of botanical science will learn 
with pleasure that this vast collection, received from 
the Exploring Expedition, is generally in excellent 
order, and abounds in rare and new materials. 

In the lower classes of zoology there is every 
indication that the collections, when thoroughly 
examined, will prove as rare and valuable as the 
herbarium. The beautiful display already made 
by the corals {Polypi vaginaii) will attract the 



NATIONAL INSTITUTION. 117 

attention of every visiter. A little further on in the 
Hall the attention will be called to an extensive 
collection of star-fish, sea urchins, &c., (Echino- 
dermata ;) and still farther on, to one of the most 
extensive and unique collections of crabs, lobsters, 
&c., (Crustacea,) that can be found in any institu- 
tion. 

Several hundred birds and many quadrupeds, 
mostly from foreign countries, have already been 
mounted and arranged in appropriate cases, and a 
larger number has yet to undergo similar prepa- 
ration. 

A few thousand rare and beautiful insects have 
been already prepared and are now exhibited. An 
arrangement has been made for a private collec- 
tion, formed under the most favorable circum- 
stances, in Europe, which, when added to those 
already possessed, will make this rank among one 
of the largest and most valuable in the world. 

There is also an immense collection of shells, 
chiefly from the Exploring Expedition, and when 
arranged will certainly present an attractive and 
interesting collection. Coming, as they chiefly do, 
from the heretofore but little explored seas of the 
Southern hemisphere, the lovers of conchology 
doubtless will find in it many rare and curious 
materials. 

The geological and mineralogical collections 
have been enriched from many sources. The col- 
lection of the late James Smithson, Esq., of Eng- 
land, is most beautiful and valuable. This cabinet 
contains between five and ten thousand specimens, 
which from their rarety, variety, beauty, and ar- 
rangement, are doubtless the fruits of many years 



118 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

toil and devotion to science, and the result of much 
pecuniary cost. Besides many valuable private 
donations which we understand have been made by 
the members of the institution, it has the valuable 
collections of the late Columbian Institute, those 
made by the Government in Illinois, Wisconsin, 
&c., under Dr. D. D. Owen, and those sent in by 
the Exploring Expedition. The two latter are yet 
untouched in their original packages. 

Man, and the rude materials with which he 
supports or protects himself in his uncivilized con- 
dition, are well represented. Mats, robes, earthen- 
ware, stone axes, adzes, clubs, spears, bows and 
arrows, canoes, &c., excite the attention of the visit- 
er by their curious structure, and serve to throw 
much light upon the condition of the various sav- 
age nations to which they belonged; whilst the ex- 
humed remains of man himself, (as in the skulls 
from various countries, and the entire persons from 
the cemeteries of Peru,) very properly complete 
this large and interesting collection. 

The materials at present in possession of the Na- 
tional Institution are doubtless sufficient to enable 
it to become one of the most valuable societies in 
this country. It will have a large amount of sur- 
plus material besides that which it may need for 
its own collections, and as most of this is from a 
country that has as yet been but partially explored, 
it will be enabled to increase its collections by 
means of exchanges, to an almost indefinite extent. 
If that well conceived and liberally organized ex- 
pedition to the South seas shall be as successful in 
lis future operations as it has already been, these 
means must be still greatly increased. 



COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 119 

Besides the advantages to result to science and 
literature generally, by the success of the Nation- 
al Institution for the Promotion of Science, it will 
afford the means of facilitating the advancement of 
other institutions of the same character in the 
country. Its intercourse with other nations will 
always keep it supplied with an abundance of the 
materials which others less favorably situated could 
but rarely and with difficulty obtain, whilst its inte- 
rest in the promotion of knowledge in our States 
must sustain the most liberal feelings in its inter- 
changes with our home institutions. 



*&' 



COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 

This society was established about twenty years 
ago, and has been employed ever since in forming 
a colony of negroes from the United States on the 
coast of Africa, called Liberia. Its exertions du- 
ring this long period have been unremitted, and 
attended with great success. 

The amended constitution of the society was 
adopted at a meeting of this body, held on the 11 th 
of December, 1838. By this constitution, every ci- 
tizen of the United States, who subscribes a dollar, 
becomes a member of the society. The Board of 
Directors is composed of delegates from the several 
State Societies, those of the District of Columbia, 
and the Territories of the United States; each so- 
ciety contributing not less than $1,000 annually 
to the common treasury, shall be entitled to two 
delegates; and each society having a Colony 
under its care, shall be entitled to three delegates ; 



120 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and any two or more societies uniting- in the sup- 
port of a Colony, consisting of at least three hun- 
dred souls, to three delegates each. The indivi- 
dual contributing $1,000 to the society, shall be a 
director for life. The society and board of di- 
rectors meet annually at Washington, on the third 
Tuesday in January. The board is vested with 
the power to organize and administer a General 
Government for the several Colonies in Liberia ; 
provide a uniform code of laws for the Colonies, 
and manage the general affairs of colonization 
throughout the United States. They also appoint, 
annually, the executive committee of five, with 
such officers as they may deem necessary, who 
are ex-officio members of the executive commit- 
tee and board of directors. The board shall 
designate the salaries of the officers, &c. ; it shall 
have the exclusive right to acquire territory in 
Africa ; to negotiate treaties with the native Afri- 
can tribes, and to appropriate the territory, and 
define the limits of the Colonies. The board and 
executive committee are empowered to fill up all 
vacancies, and make by-laws for their government, 
&c. 

The officers consist of one President, (Henry 
Clay,) and forty-eight Vice-Presidents, seven of 
whom are from the District of Columbia. 



COLUMBIA TYPOGRAPHICAL SO- 
CIETY. 

This Society of Printers was formed in the year 
1815, and is one of the oldest modern associations 
in the city. Its objects are benevolent, and the 



i>KDEU OF ODD FELLOWS. 121 

advancement of the moral welfare and pecuniary 
interests of the profession. It has gradually in- 
creased in strength from the period of its forma- 
tion to the present time, and has now on its rolls 
about four hundred members, scattered over the 
Union; many of them the conductors of some of 
the ablest and best newspapers of the country. 
During- the sessions of Congress about one hun- 
dred members of the society are usually congre- 
gated here ; and by an extensive correspondence, 
it is at all times in possession of information of the 
condition of the printing business throughout the 
United States. It meets monthly for the transac- 
tion of business; and the indispensable qualifica- 
tions for membership are a full knowledge of the 
printing business, to be acquired by an apprentice- 
ship of at least five years, and a good moral cha- 
racter. Members in distress, or their widows and 
orphans, are entitled to receive four dollars weekly, 
from the treasury, which is made up of an ini- 
tiation fee, of one dollar, and a monthly contribu- 
tion from each member of twenty-five cents, which 
contribution ceases after ten years' membership. 



THE ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS. 

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows has its 
" Grand Lodge" in a spacious room in the City 
Hall, originally appropriated for the sessions of 
the Common Council of the city. 

The order of Odd Fellows was introduced into 
the United States, at Baltimore, on the 19th of 
April, 1819; when but five persons could be found 

E 



122 CUIDE'TO WASHINGTON. 

duly instructed in the principles of the institution. 
Five members being just enough for the incipient 
structure of a lodge, arrangements were made 
to procure a charter from the Manchester Unity, 
in Great Britain, and for this purpose one of their 
number (Mr. Thomas Wildey) was selected to 
proceed to England, who accomplished the object 
of his mission by obtaining ft'om the proper au- 
thority there a charter for " The Grand Lodge of 
Maryland and the United States." On his return 
to Baltimore the brethren reassembled, and orga- 
nized Washington Lodge, named in honor of 
tlie Father of American liberty ; and shortly after 
this period lodges were established in Philadel- 
phia, New- York, and Boston — Maryland being 
regarded as the head, by virtue of the special 
charter above referred to ; a right, however, which 
she subsequently relinquished to a body formed of 
representatives from different States, under the title 
of The Grand Lodge of the United States. 

Of the lodges so promptly formed in the four 
principal cities of the Union, that in Pennsylvania 
met with the most encouragement, though for 
some time none of them made any extraordinary 
progress. The strange name and character of the 
institution were often subjects of ridicule among 
those who knew nothing of its nature, and some 
who were initiated, so far from exhibiting any de- 
gree of zeal in its behalf, seemed to treat it with 
cold indifference; besides, suitable places of meet- 
ing were wanted, and some internal discord was to 
be overcome, in the early stages of organization. 
Under these adverse circumstances, it is no wonder 
that at first it increased but gradually in strength, 



ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS. 1 '^3 

In the fall of 1825, there were only three lodges 
in Baltimore, three in Pennsylvania, one in New- 
York, and two in Massachusetts. In the latter 
place, it was subsequently deemed advisable by the 
resident brotherhood to suspend altogether their 
operations, (which have been but very recently 
resumed,) rather than incur the risk of sharing 
the obloquy consequent upon the memorable Mor- 
gan excitement against the institution of Masonry; 
and the same cause had its effect in depressing the 
spirit of the brethren in New- York. In the mean 
time Pennsylvania and Maryland held their course 
steadily forward, and it is not improbable that 
what retarded the advance of Oddfellowship in the 
more northern States, aided it in these two middle 
ones; for in 1827-28, from a condition of unusual 
depression, the order in Baltimore seemed to have 
acquired a new spirit, which rapidly infused itself 
into the brotherhood generally, who, taking the 
tide at its flood, gave to it an impetus that has been 
ever since rolling onward in its course, until the 
standard of the institution has been planted in 
nearly every State of the Union, penetrating its 
most distant parts, and spreading also over the new 
Republic of Texas. 

On the 26th of November, 1827, Central Lodge 
was established in the city of Washington, and on 
the 28th of November, 1828, the Grand Lodge of 
the District of Columbia was instituted. In October 
of the following year, Concord Lodge was formed 
in the city of Washington ; and two other lodges 
were soon after established in Georgetown and 
Alexandria. All these lodges, however, except 
Central, surrendered up their respective charters ; 

E I 



124 CUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

but previous to tlieir dissolution, a portion of 
the brethren from Central had branched off, in 
September. 1833, and opened Washington Lodge; 
so that the members here were still entitled to the 
privilege of retaining their District Grand Lodge, 
which prevented them from reverting to the im- 
mediate jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the 
United States. 

Central and Washington Lodges, located in the 
centre of the city, were more prosperous than either 
of their sisters, though they also experienced the 
evils resulting from the uncouth cognomen by 
which the Order is known, and the want of a suit- 
able place to hold their meetings, besides the diffi- 
culty of accumulating members in a city whose 
population is so fluctuating as is that of this Me- 
tropolis. Nevertheless, they have gone on together 
in great harmony, steadily increasing in numbers. 
In the spring of 1839, Central Lodge having again 
acquired considerable strength, a portion of the 
most 'active of her members residing in the east- 
ern part of the city established Eastern Lodge, in 
the vicinity of the Navy Yard; and about the 
same time Potomac Lodge was formed at Alex- 
andria. Both these lodges were very prosperous, 
and within the last twelve or eighteen months two 
others (branches of Eastern) have been opened 
at the Navy Yard, known by the names of Harmo- 
ny and Union, and an additional one in the heart 
of the city, under the title of Columbia, whose 
original members branched off from Central. 
These lodges are now all in a flourishing condi- 
tion, both as regards members and resources, their 
returns for the last two years exhibiting the in- 



ORDER OF ODD FELLOAVS. 125 

tialions of new members during that period to 
have been but h'ttle short of three hundred and 

The prominent feature in the institution of Odd 
Fellows is its beneficial character, though none of 
its principles are in the least degree exceptionable. 
Its motto, Friendship, Love, and Truth, may convey 
some idea of what is aimed at. Its laws inculcate 
a spirit of charity and forbearance towards the uni- 
versal human race. In the golden rule, "Do unto 
others as you wish them to do unto you," in con- 
junction with the Ten Commandments, may be 
found its moral code. Its lectures acknowledge 
the authority of the Holy Scriptures and the su- 
perintending care of a Divine Providence, but 
prohibit the discussion in the lodges of questions 
relating to sectarian doctrines of religion; they also 
enjoin upon members obedience to the government 
and laws of the countr}^ in which their lot is cast, 
but forbid the introduction of party politics; thus 
leaving every member entirely free to pursue the 
dictates of his own conscience as regards the for- 
mer subject, and the promptings of his own patrio- 
tism in respect to the latter one. Temperance, 
morality, industry, and frugality, are strongly in- 
culcated on the one hand, while, on the other, the 
vices of immorality, idleness, and intemperance, are 
held up to the severest reprobation. 

The benefits of the institution are confined to 
what are denominated contributing mem.bers ; that 
is, such as continue to pay the sum of six and a 
quarter cents per week towards the support of the 
Order; for a member may withdraw at any time 
after joining it, by permitting himself to fall in 
e2 



126 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

arrears for dues, or by asking for a card or certifi- 
cate, which can be redeposited at a future time, 
either in the lodge from which it is drawn, or in 
any other lodge, and he will thereby become re- 
instated in full membership. 

In case of sickness or disability, a member is 
entitled to four dollars per week from his lodge, 
and to three dollars more from the encampment, 
if he be also a member of that body. It is the 
duty of the officers to tender these sums to sick 
brethren, no matter what may be their condition 
in life; and if the member's situation requires fur- 
ther relief than is provided for in the regulations, 
a larger sum can be appropriated. In the event 
of the death of a member, thirty dollars are al- 
lowed by his lodge for funeral expenses, and twenty 
dollars more by the encampment, if he be a mem- 
ber of that body. 

The children of deceased members are sent to 
school at the expense of the Order, for which pur- 
pose an ample fund is specially set aside ; and such 
reasonable assistance is extended to widows as is 
within the means of the Order. 

There are at present in Washington six lodges, 
and one in Alexandria, the number of whose con- 
tributing members may be stated at between five 
and six hundred. The entire number of Odd Fel- 
lows within the District could not be easily ascer- 
tained, as the names of contributing members only 
are enrolled on the books of the lodges. 

There is also a Grand Lodge, composed of past 
officers of the subordinate lodges, to the number 
of eighty or ninety, and two encampments. Co- 
lumbian Encampment, of Washington, has sixty 



ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS. 127 

members, and Marley Encampment, of Alexandria, 
nearly forty. 

The revenue of tlie present year will be about 
four thousand dollars. The amount of expendi- 
tures for charitable purposes are not fully report- 
ed, but will not exceed, if they reach, the sum paid 
last year, which, within the limits of the city, was 
upwards of one thousand dollars. 

The fees of initiation and for degrees, being 
regulated by the State Grand Lodges, are not uni- 
form throughout the country. In this District 
they are quite moderate, and within the means of 
every one who would be likely to be received. 

There are in the United States eighteen State 
Grand Lodges, and two hundred and seventeen 
Subordinate Lodges, embracing nearly twenty 
thousand contributing members, besides from for- 
ty to fifty Grand and Subordinate Encampments. 
The total revenue for the year, as reported to the 
Grand Lodge of the United States, at its meeting 
in September, amounted to $120,588. The re- 
ports for relief being made under a new regu- 
lation, they are very imperfect, and include but 
six Grand Lodges, three of them having very 
small jurisdictions, as follows: Maryland, $4,551 
72; New- York, 810,843 05; New- Jersey, $391 
50; Kentucky, $838 81 ; Ohio, $1,496 62; Con- 
necticut. $430 00; making a total in these six 
States of S 1 8,55 1 . It may be well to remark here 
that the funds are all devoted to beneficial and chari- 
table purposes, except what is necessary to pay for 
rent, fuel, lights, &c. 

The Grand Lodge of the United States is the 
supreme head of the Order in America, and is 
e3 



128 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

organized upon principles similar to those that 
govern the Union of the States of this Confederacy. 
This body meets but once a year, and its members 
may be classified thus: first, the officers; second, 
the representatives; third, the Past Grand Sires. 
The officers, eight in number, are elected bienni- 
ally, and have no voice hi the proceedings, except 
a casting vote on the part of the chief one (Grand 
Sire) when the lodge is equally divided. Each 
representative has one vote, and every State or 
Territorial Grand Lodge is entitled to at least 
one representative, and to an additional one if her 
returns show that she has under her jurisdiction 
more than one thousand contributing members. 
The Past Grand Sires are brethren who have 
served one term in the office of Grand Sire ; they 
then become members of the Grand Lodge ex-of- 
Jlcio, and are entitled to the same privileges as re- 
presentatives. Thus organized, acting under a 
written constitution, this body exercises supreme 
jurisdiction within the territorial limits of the Uni- 
ted States, and her legislation is conclusive as re- 
gards Oddfellowship, though it is principally con- 
fined to matters of extended and general interest. 
All her proceedings are published. 

The State Grand Lodges, which hold stated 
quarterly meetings, supervise and regulate the 
concerns of the Order within the boundaries of 
their respective States and Territories. Their or- 
ganization is similar to that of the Grand Lodge 
of the United States, their officers serving but one 
year. Their members are known by the title of 
Past Grand, which signifies that they have served 
one term in the chief office of a primary lodge. 



ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS, 129 

usually known by the style of Subordinate Lodge; 
by which service they become ex-officio members 
of the Slate Grand Lodge, which can only be aug- 
mented by the incoming every quarter of one Past 
Grand from each lodge working under its juris- 
diction. 

The Subordinate Lodges hold weekly meetings, 
and, in their relation to the Order, may be regarded 
in the same light as are the sovereign people, 
when compared to the members of their State and 
General Governments. These lodges afford pe- 
cuniary support to the entire fabric, for it is to them 
that the members contribute their small donations 
of six and a quarter cents per week, which, with 
the fees of initiation and degrees, constitute ths 
revenue of the institution. They are governed 
after the manner of most civil societies, except 
that no fines are imposed for non-attendance; in- 
deed, members are admonished not to neglect their 
business or family concerns to attend upon lodge 
affairs. One peculiar advantage they have over 
ordinary beneficial and mechanical associations is, 
that the Order in its entire extent is firmly united 
together, and members are privileged to visit other 
lodges than their own whenever they choose to 
do so; thus affording them opportunity, when seve- 
ral lodges are situated in the same vicinity, to 
spend many hours in social intercourse within their 
halls which might otherwise be passed in more 
mischievous company; and, in the event of travel- 
ling on business, or even for pleasure, independent 
of the just claim a member would have to pecu- 
niary relief and assistance, if he should unexpect- 
edly stand in need of it, he could often obtain with- 

E'i 



130 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

in the precincts of a lodge room all the essential 
information he might desire with respect to the 
surrounding neighborhood. The officers of Sub- 
ordinate Lodges are changed every three months, 
when the principal one is translated to the State 
Grand Lodge, leaving the second in rank to be 
promoted to the vacant post, if he shall have filled 
satisfactorily the duties of the second chair. The 
transferring of members to Grand Lodges merely 
confers upon them additional honors, and does 
not at all affect the relations subsisting between 
them and their primary lodge. To be a member 
of a subordinate lodge is a si7ie qua non to quali- 
fy one for a seat in any other lodge. 

The institution of Odd Fellows is believed to be 
antique in its origin, although at the beginning of 
the present century it was but little known in Eng- 
land. The official returns received this year show 
that that country is now divided into two hundred 
and fifty-six districts, containing two thousand five 
hundred and eighty-eight lodges, and embracing 
one hundred and seventy-nine thousand five hun- 
dred and forty-five members ! That general har- 
mony and universal good feeling should pervade 
so extensive an association, speaks volumes in fa- 
vor of its government and principles. 

UNION LITERARY DEBATING SO- 
CIETY. 

A society, called the Union Literary Deba- 
ting Society, has been in existence for several 
years. Interesting- questions are publicly discussed 
in it by the members^ who thus become practised 



TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 131 

in public speaking, and acquire a knowledge of the 
various subjects under consideration which they 
would not otherwise obtain. This society has 
been of longer duration than any similar one ever 
established in this city before, and been productive 
of great intellectual advantage to the members, as 
well as of interest to the public. 

TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 

Among the societies which have been organi- 
zed in this city, and elsewhere, for the last twenty 
years, to promote the moral welfare and happi- 
ness of mankind, there are none which have been 
more salutary or useful than the Temperance As- 
sociations. Ten of these have been established in 
Washington, and have, especially the Frecmeri^s 
Vigilant, by their example and the exertions of 
their members, contributed in a remarkable man- 
ner to the temperance of the Metropolis, among all 
classes of the community. They commenced here 
about fifteen years ago, and have been gradually 
increasing in numbers ever since. The persons 
who have taken the pledge are now numerous, 
and many, who had been given up as utterly aban- 
doned to the beastly vice of drunkenness, have be- 
come wholly reformed. The eye is now but rarely 
shocked by the disgusting spectacle of a drunken 
man or woman in the streets of Washington, among 
the resident population. The number of grogshops, 
and the sale of spirituous liquors, have greatly di- 
minished since the formation of these associations, 
especially within a few years past. I'lieir moral 
elTect is rapidly exlendin? all over the globe. 
J5 5 



l32 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 



BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 

A female society, called'the Washington City 
Benevolent Society, was chartered in March, 
1841. Its object is to afford relief and assistance 
to the poor, infirm, and helpless of the city, and 
its exertions have been so far attended with very 
happy and useful results. 

Another benevolent association, organized at 
the Navy Yard, called the Navy Yard Bene- 
ficial Society, was chartered by Congress about 
a year ago, and has so far answered the charitable 
and useful objects of its organization. 

There are, in addition to the societies already 
mentioned, a Howard Society, whose object is 
to afford employment to poor females of the city, 
and furnish clothes to the poor at a low rate; also 
a Masonic, Dorcas, Bible, Tract, Missionary, and 
some other benevolent associations, whose ex- 
ertions have been attended with great advantage to 
the community. Among these is one established 
in 1819, called the ''Provident Association of 
Clcrks^^ in the District of Columbia, whose ob- 
ject is to benefit the families of the subscribing 
clerks after their decease. Each member sub- 
scribes $2 50 per annum, or as much more as he 
may think proper ; and to the families of such as 
may die before the expiration of the fifth year of 
their membership, double the amount of their sub- 
scription is to be paid after the expiration of their 
fifth year; $100 and $50 per annum, in addition, 
until the end of the fifteenth year; and after the 
sixteenth year of their membership, $600, and an 
interest of twelve per cent, per annum, on $150 



BANKS. 133 

from the the fifteenth year of their membership, 
are to be paid to the families of the deceased 
clerks. 

BANKS. 

BA?fK OF Washington.— This bank was first 
chartered in 1811, and the first organized in this 
city. Its capital is $500,000. The banking house 
is situated at the west corner of C street and Lou- 
isiana avenue. Discount day, Tuesday. 

Wm. Gunton, PrcsH., James Adams, C<3^5AV. 

The charter of this bank, which has been several 
times renewed, will expire on the 4th of July, 1844, 
at which time the charters of all the other banks 
will also expire. 

Bank of the ^vIetropolis, chartered in 1817, 
renewed in 1821, 1836, 1838, 1841, and will ex- 
pire in 1844; capital the same as the preceding". 
Banking house on Fifteenth street, opposite the 
State Department. Discount day, Wednesday. 

J. P. Van Ness, Pres'L, Rich'd. Smith, CashW. 

Patriotic Bank, chartered in 1817, renewed 
at the same periods, and will expire at the same 
time as the preceding. Capital the same. Bank- 
ing house on Seventh street west. Discount day, 
Wednesday. 

William A. Bradley, Pres't., C. Besiov, CashW. 

The former act, continuing the charters of the 

above named banks, provides, among other things, 

that if either of the said banks, including those of 

Georgetown and Alexandria, shall fail or refuse 

e6 



J 34 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

to pay on demmid, any note, bill, &c., by it issued, 
in lawful currency^ or sball neglect or refuse to 
pay any moneys received on deposite, it sball be 
liable to pay an interest of twelve per cent, per 
annum ; and it shall also be lawful for Congress 
forthwith to revoke the charter of said bank. 
Notes under five dollars shall not be made, issued, 
or reissued, by either of the said banks. 

By the act of August 25th, 1841, continuing the 
charters of the above banks for three years, they 
are required to resume and continue the payment 
of all their notes and specie liabilities in specie on 
demand; and, upon failing to resume specie pay- 
ments, or having resumed, shall again suspend, or 
shall pay or lend out the notes of any suspended 
bank, or any paper currency not equivalent to 
specie, shall forfeit all benefit and privilege grant- 
ed by the act. They are prohibited from making 
any new loan on pledge of stock as a security ; to re- 
quire before a renewal of any stock loan previously 
granted other sufficient security for the same. The 
President and Directors are made individually lia- 
ble to all persons concerned for the whole amount 
of such loan or loans. No loan to be made to any 
President, Cashier, Director, or other officer, to 
any amount in the whole more than $10,000. Pro- 
hibited from issuing or paying out, or offering in 
payment, any notes not at par, under pain of for- 
feiting for any such offence double the sum so 
paid out or offered in payment of their own debts. 
No bills or notes of a less denomination than five 
dollars to be issued. The number of Directors is 
limited to nine instead of twelve, the former num- 
ber. 



INSURANCE AND FIRE COMPANIES. 135 

None of these banks are doing any new busi- 
ness; tlie restrictions imposed upon them by the 
late act rendering it unsafe, and the currency is 
now deplorable. 

An act of Congress, passed on the 7th of July, 
1838, prohibits any individual, company, or cor- 
poration, to issue, pass, or offer to pass, within this 
District, any 7iote, check, draft, bank bill, or any 
other paper currency, of a less denomination than 
live dollars, under a penalty not exceeding fifty 
dollars, at the discretion of the court, for every of- 
fence; one half to go to the prosecutor, and the 
other half to the county where the offence has 
been committed. This act is still in force. 



INSURANCE COMPANIES. 

The Franklin Insurance Company was 

chartered in 1818. Capital $250,000. Office on 
Pennsylvania avenue, between Four-and-a-half and 
Sixth streets; open from ten to two o'clock every 
day, Sundays excepted. Insurance against fire 
only. G. C. Grammer, President. 

The Fireman's Insurance Company was 

chartered in 1837, for twenty-one years. Capital 
not exceeding $200,000. Divided into ten thou- 
sand shares, at twenty dollars each, to be taken 
and held only by members of a fire company. 

Insurance against fire only. Office on Pennsyl- 
vania avenue, between Sixth and Seventh streets, 
west; open from ten to two o'clock daily. 

William Gunton, Prcsidnii, Alexander Mcln- 
tire, Secretary. 
e7 " 



136 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

FIRE COMPANIES. 

The Union, Franklin, Perseverance, Co- 
lumbia, and the Navy Yard. All these compa- 
nies were organized by an act of Congress, passed 
2d of March, 1837; and the members constitute 
the stockholders in the Fireman's Insurance Com- 
pany. 

MILITARY. 

The city now boasts of several fine uniformed 
military companies, who are well drilled and make 
a very handsome display when they parade. For 
years after the late war, the military spirit had al- 
most become extinct in this city ; but of late it has 
revived, and a strong military enthusiasm now 
prevails among the diiferent volunteer companies 
in Washington. These are the Columbian Artil- 
lery, the Washington Light Infantry, the National 
Blues, the Marion and the Mechanic Riflemen. 

SOCIETY. 

The society of Washington, though very mix- 
ed, is good, partaking of the hues of " many color- 
ed life," from the highest refinement of polished 
France to the manly dignity of untutored nature. 
Parties, during the winter months, are numerous, 
and well attended. These are calculated to biing 
together many who might not otherwise have an 
opportunity of mingling with each other. The 
amusements at this season are so diversified and 
the society so good, that none can feel at a loss 
for the one, or be dissatisfied with the other. The 



SOCIETY. 137 

U'ansition is easy from the display of parliamen- 
tary eloquence in the Halls of Congress to that of 
forensic eloquence in the highest judicial tribu- 
nal of the country, and from these again to the 
less instructive, but more amusing exhibitions of 
colloquial power in the fashionable soirees or re- 
unions of the evening. 

From the great variety of characters that as- 
semble in Washington, influenced by different 
motives, and from various ranks in life, the socie- 
ty must necessarily be mixed. It is made up of 
various classes : office-holders, and those in pur- 
suit of office ; the man of wealth travelling in 
pursuit of amusement and change, and the indi- 
gent aspirant for place; the polished European and 
the well dressed adventurer; the gentleman and 
the black leg — all are often found amalgamated at 
an evening party. These transient visiters, though 
forming, at certain seasons, the society of the Me- 
tropolis, are too often considered as constituting and 
giving character to that society; and the resident 
population are frequently charged with offences ot 
which they are entirely guiltless.* Accustomed to 
mingle v/ith the highest dignitaries of the land, 
and to associate freely with the representatives ot 
the people, they have learned to place a fair and just 
estimate on human worth, and to regard mere offi- 

* "The whole population of this city have been misre. 
presented as to manners, morals, habits and dispositions. 
No people are more kind or more hospitable, or have bet- 
ter feelings than the Washingtonians. The bland Mary, 
lander, the lofty Virginian, and intelligent and shrewd 
Eastern inhabitant coalesce, commingle and amalgamate, 
until the virtues of all are seen united in the most." — 
Knapp's Sketches. 
e8 



138 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

cial rank or station as not always conferring honor 
or moral respectability on those who hold it. it is 
seen with no exalted feelings by those to whom it 
is familiar, and the virtuous and intelligent citi- 
zen of Washington, though deprived of his elec- 
tive franchise, feels no disposition to truckle to 
power, and moves through life with a conscious 
independence, and a conviction that all true dis- 
tinction is based on moral superiority alone, 

A fine moral tone pervades the resident popula- 
tion of this city, which is not often found in that of 
other large cities, and they are as much shocked 
and scandalized at the vices and profligacy which 
the itinerant population sometimes imports into their 
city, as those who condemn them can or pretend to 
be. Religion loo has elevated her standard among 
them, and there are but few who do not in reality 
or appearance bow down and worship at the altar 
of their Saviour and their God. The sound of the 
church going bell is heard with pleasure, and its 
call obeyed with delight by a large majority of the 
inhabitants, male and female, of this eity, and there 
is scarcely one of the numerous churches that is 
not well filled whenever divine service is per- 
formed. The clergy are intelligent, pious, and 
ardent in the cause of their great Redeemer, and 
untiring in their efforts to lead their flock along 
the paths of pleasantness and peace. These men 
are either the projectors of, or connected with all 
those associations that have for their basis the 
moral welfare, and the social and eternal happi- 
ness of their fellow-men. Asa body, there is none 
in this country more respectable and worthy, 
fhoucfli thore may be some more eloquent: and it 



SOCIETY, 139 

is gratifying to witness the harmony which pre- 
vails between the pastor and his people, in every 
church in Washington. 

The moral and religious tone of w^hich I have 
spoken is evinced by the fact that but few heinous 
crimes are perpetrated in this city, and, consider- 
ing the population, (near twenty-four thousand 
souls,) very few lesser offences are committed. 
Since the origin of the city, but three persons 
have been hung for the commission of a capital 
offence, and two of these were committed beyond 
the limits of the city. 

The people of Washington are distinguished 
for their hospitality and courtesy. All who visit it, 
if they have any claims to respectability, are in- 
vited to their evening or dinner parties, and every 
attention is paid to distinguished strangers, and 
others who may come recommended to them. 
The effect of this hospitality is often unfortunately 
injurious to their pecuniary interests, and some- 
times leaves them destitute at the close of life. 
There are but few men of wealth in this city who 
can afford to indulge a liberal hospitality ; but it 
has become the custom, and almost all attempt to 
keep it up, though aware of the consequences 
which must finally result from it. Official station 
is too eagerly sought after, and is at last not worth 
the pursuit. Few in office leave more than suffi- 
cient to bury them ; while alive they live up to 
their salaries, and consequently, when they die, 
their families are left destitute, and either fall upon 
their relations, or seek to maintain themselves by 
setting up a boarding house, in which they do not 
often succeed. 



140 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 



USAGES, CUSTOMS, ETIQUETTE, &c. 

The fashionable part of the society of Wash- 
ington has established certain conventional usages, 
which are but seldom deviated from. Strangers 
of distinction are usually called upon by the citi- 
zen, who invites them to his house, and if a dinner 
or evening party is to be given, they never fail to 
be invited to that. The cards of invitation to those 
parties are sent out about nine days before they are 
to be given, and if the invitation be to dinner, the 
person invited must return a written acceptance of 
the invitation, or an apology for declining, that the 
host may know the precise number of covers to 
prepare. The guest appears at the hour desig- 
nated, generally about six o'clock, P. M.; for it is 
deemed uncivil to attend too early or too late on 
such an occasion. At soirees, or evening parties, 
the company usually assemble at from nine to ele- 
ven o'clock, and retire at from twelve to two o'clock. 
The amusements here as elsewhere consist of dan- 
cing, conversation, and cards, and the refreshments 
and set suppers, which are not frequent, are such 
as are found at similar reunions in other cities. 
The President of the United States seldom or never 
attends those parties; but the Vice-President, mem- 
bers of the cabinet, and all the other officers of the 
Government are permitted by etiquette to attend, 
and to give parties. If the person invited cannot go, 
he or she sends a written apology, and these apolo- 
gies are laid on the centre table or raantlepiece of 
the drawing room. The number of guests, male 
and female, usually invited, varies from three hun- 
dred to nine hundred, according to circumstances. 



FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 141 

These parties are kept up almost nightly during 
the winter months, and when the crowd is not great, 
are generally very pleasant. The best society, and 
all the beanty, fashion and distinction assembled in 
Washington, at the time, are to be found there, and 
hence they are generally very much crowded, es- 
pecially when the house is not constructed so as 
to accommodate large numbers, which is the case 
with most of the dwellings in this city. 

When a stranger arrives in Washington, and is 
desirous to attend the parties, he leaves his card at 
the houses of such as give them, and if found re- 
spectable, and of good standing, is invited. 

Members of both Houses of Congress call upon 
the President of the United States immediately 
after their arrival in Washington. The Heads of 
Departments and Foreign Ministers pay the first 
visit to Senators ; but to Members of the House 
this courtesy is not extended. Etiquette requires 
that they should pay the first visit to the cabinet 
ministers. The mem.bers of both Houses during 
the session are invited to dine with the President, 
in alphabetical order, without regard to houses or 
parties. The number usually invited to each din- 
ner varies from twenty-five to thirty, and such 
members as have their wives with them are ac- 
companied by them on these occasions. 

FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 

When a member of Congress dies during the 
session in Washington, his death is announced by 
some member of his own State, and the House ad- 
journs till after the funeral. He is buried at the 



142 GUIDK TO WASHINGTON. 

public expense. His body is placed in a rich ma- 
hogany coffin, with a plated escutcJieon, on whirli 
his name, age, and time of death, are inscribed. 
The pall bearers are selected from the members ol 
his own State, and if there be not enough, from an 
adjoining State. The coffin, covered with a rich 
velvet pall, is brought to the House to which he 
belonged, from his late dwelling, accompanied by 
the pall bearers, and placed in front of the chair of 
the President of the Senate or Speaker of the House. 
The Chaplain of the House to which the deceased 
member belonged, delivers an appropriate address, 
and goes through the funeral ceremonies usual on 
those occasions, according to the peculiar forms 
of the church to which he is attached. The body is 
then conveyed, accompanied by the pall bearers, 
the presiding officers. Secretary and Clerk, Chap- 
lains, Sergeants-at-Arms, and Doorkeepers, and 
members of both Houses, wearing crape on their 
left arms, and the former with white scarfs over 
their right shoulders. The funeral is also attend- 
ed by the President of the United States, the prin- 
cipal officers of the Government, of the Army and 
Navy, and Foreign Ministers. The procession 
is very long, consisting of from one hundred to one 
hundred and fifty carriages, the one half of which 
are often empty. The body is first deposited in 
the receiving vault of the Congressional Burial 
Ground, and afterwards placed in a grave, over 
which a plain stone tomb is erected, on which his 
name, the State which he represented, his age, 
&c., are engraved. The expense is seldom less 
than from twelve to fifteen hundred dollars. 
This useless and absurd parade has led to a usage 



FUNERAL CUSTOMS. 143 

among- the citizens, in relation to the burial of their 
dead, which would be more " honored in the breach 
than the observance." A splendid procession is 
regarded as a mark of respect to the dead by the 
survivors of the family, and every family that loses 
one of its members, spares no expense, whatever 
may be their circumstances, to render the funeral 
procession imposing. This often acts very inju- 
riously upon the survivors, whose whole means are 
perhaps wasted in this absurd and senseless parade. 
The procession generally consists of hackney and 
private carriages, varying in number from twenty 
to a hundred, according to the feelings and circum- 
stances of the family. It is not usual to follow on 
foot the body to the grave yard, especially to the 
Congressional Burial Ground. Those who cannot 
be accommodated in carriages do not go to the 
grave. The example of one is followed by another, 
till all think it is necessary to make a display on 
occasions when prudence should dictate to nine- 
tenths of those who have been deprived of their 
only support, the propriety of husbanding the 
small means that have been left them. 

In this respect Boston sets an example worthy of 
imitation here. When a death occurs, some of the 
most intimate friends of the family only are invited ; 
very few attend the corps to the grave, and none 
but near relations wear mourning. The expense 
is consequently inconsiderable, and scarcely felt, 
while the respect and veneration for the deceased, 
and the sorrow and affliction the melancholy be- 
reavement has occasioned, are as deep and agoniz- 
ing as they can be among those whom mere custom 
leads to make a magnificent, but useless display. 



144 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

THE RECESS OF CONGRESS. 

During the recess of Congress, Washington does- 
not possess many sources of attraction. Theatri- 
cal and other amusements cease, and the citizens 
fail back upon their own resources, and enjoy 
themselves as they can. After the scenes of dis- 
sipation, and the excitements which the session 
always produces, the quietude and repose of the 
city which follow, are not displeasing or unplea- 
sant. An agreeable social intercourse is kept up 
among the families of the resident population, and 
those in and out of office lead a staid and quiet ex- 
istence, more rational, if not so exciting as that to 
w^hich they are accustomed in the winter months. 
Such as can afford it, visit some of the numerous 
and fashionable watering places with which our 
country abounds, and spend a few weeks there,, 
either for the benefit of their health or to pass 
away the time. 

The drives in and around the city are delight- 
ful, especially beyond the Eastern branch and 
north of the Capitol, where the prospects are beau- 
tiful, and all the scenery and pure air of the coun- 
try can be enjoyed. Most of those in office, with 
families, supply themselves with a one horse 
carriage, as an indispensable article, and after 
dinner take a drive along the unimproved streets 
of this romantic city, or into that portion of the 
country around it, which I have mentioned. The 
pedestrians resort to the beautiful grounds around 
the Capitol, and exercise themselves in strolling 
along their spacious and extensive walks, or in 
listening to the music of a fine band attached to the 



ASSEMBLY ROOMS. 145 

Marine corps, which attends twice a week in the 
Capitol square during the summer and autumn, 
and which generally attracts large crowds from 
all parts of the city. 



WASHINGTON ASSEMBLY ROOMS, CA- 
RUSrS SALOON, OLD THEATRE, &c. 

The building formerly called the Washington 
Theatre, on Louisiana avenue, has been converted 
into spacious and beautiful saloons for balls and 
assemblies. The front is very neat, the building 
sufficiently large, and the whole has been fitted up 
in a style creditable to the taste of the proprietors. 
The city contains another saloon for balls and as- 
semblies, owned by the Messrs. Carusi, and which 
has been for manj^ years used for this purpose. 
It is situated on C street, between Tenth and Ele- 
venth streets west. The basement story of this 
building is at present occupied by the City Post 
Office. It was originally a theatre, and the first 
erected in Washington for that purpose. The se- 
cond was the building converted into saloons, as 
mentioned above, and the third is the one now used 
as a theatre, called the National Theatre. 

The National Theatre is the only one in Wash- 
ington, but it is not well supported, and is about to 
be converted to some other purpose. In the infan- 
cy of the city theatrical exhibitions were more pop- 
ular than at present, and the old theatre was often 
crowded to suffocation, when the population was not 
one third as great as it is now. The members of the 
theatrical corps who visited Washington belonged 



146 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

to the Philadelphia company, and always made 
their annual appearance here in the summer 
months. The talent of that company will long be 
remembered, and the matchless humor of Jeffersonj 
the exquisite drollery of Blisset and Entwistle, the 
Falstaffian humor of Warren, the tragic excel- 
lence of Mrs. Merry, Mrs. Mason, &c., will call 
up some of the most agreeable reminiscences of 
the past, in those who are still living to remember 
those early periods of the city. The old theatre, 
however, was not the first used for dramatic rep- 
resentations in this city. The building of which 
I have spoken in another place as standing on the 
site on which the fine edifice intended for the ac- 
commodation of the General Post Office has been 
erected, was used, in the infancy of the city, as a 
temporary theatre. A portion of it was fitted up 
by the company for this purpose, and Cooper made 
his cUhut in the metropolis, in the character of 
Hamlet, on the boards of that rude theatre. It 
was not long thus occupied, however, because it 
was found not to be a very profitable undertaking. 
The great diminution in the numbers that were 
wont to attend the theatre, has not arisen from any 
dislike or distaste to dramatic representations, but 
from other causes, which would seem to be antipo- 
des, religion and fashion. The religious senti- 
ment of the community is averse to such exhibi- 
tions, because they are regarded as sinful and im- 
proper ; and the fashionable balls, parties, and as- 
semblies given every night during the season when 
the theatre is open, take away the mass of those 
who might be disposed to visit it, and whose attend- 
ance would give it support and encouragement. 



PUBLIC AND PKIVATE PllUPEllTY. 



147 



Justices of the Peace for the County of 
Washington, who hold their commis 



SIONS FOR FOUR YEARS 



Richard Briscoe, Ap. 1840 

Nathaniel Brady, 1840 
Rob't. Henry Clements, 1840 

Robert White, 1840 

David Saunders, 1840 

Benjamin B. French, 1840 

George Adams. 1840 

Samuel Smoot, 1840 

Roger C. Weightraan, 1841 

Lewis Carbery, 1841 

John Cox, 1841 

David A. Hall, 1841 

Samuel Stettinius, 1841 

Thomas Turner, 1841 

Nich. B. Vanzandt, 1841 

William Hebb, 1841 

Robert Getty, 1841 

William Thompson, 1841 

B. K. Morsell, 1841 
James Gettys, 1841 
John Wells, 1841 

C. H. Wiltberger, 1841 



Nat. Loughborough, 1841 

Thomas Carbery, 1841 

Samuel Drury, 1841 

William Waters, 1841 

John F. Coxe, 1841 

Joseph Forrest, 1841 

Wm. H. Gunnell, 1841 

C. T. Coote, 1841 

Thomas R. Hampton, 1841 

Samuel D. King, 1841 

Vincent King, 1841 

Gilbert L. Giberson, 1841 

C. J. Nourse, 1841 

Henry Howison, 1841 

Joshua Pearce, 1841 

Conrad Hogmire, 1841 

Thomas Holtzman, 1841 
Nicholas Callan, Jun., 1841 

Zachariah Walker, 1841 

Wm. W. Stewart, 1841 

John D. Clark, 1841 

Joseph N. Fearson, 1841 



PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PROPERTY 
OF THE CITY. 



The original proprietors assigned to the United 
States in the first division ten thousand one hun- 
dred and thirty-six lots; the amount of sales of 
these lots up to 1834, was $741,000 24; the esti- 
mated value of the lots unsold, was $909,221 ; 
and the estimated value of the lots givai aioay, 



148 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and not for city purposes, was $70,000, viz : 
$10,000 to the Washington Orphan Asylum, 
$10,000 to the St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum, 
$25,000 to the Columbian College, $25,000 to 
the Georgetown College; 541 acres of reserved 
ground, cstimatrd at ten cents per square foot, 
$2,356,596 ; from which must be deducted the re- 
servations Nos. 10, 11 and 12, end the squares A, 
B, C and D, amounting to $117,367. Estimated 
value of wharves, water lots, &c., $40,000, making 
an aggregate of $3,999,474. For the " reserva- 
tions," seventeen in number, containing five hun- 
dred and forty-one acres, one rood and thirty-nine 
perches, the Government paid £25 per acre, (66f 
dollars,) amounting to the sum of $36,099. 

There was expended by the Government up to 
1814, on the public buildings and other public 
improvements, $1,214,202; and since that period, 
when most of these were destroyed by the British 
army, the expenditures up to 1834, have been $2,- 
127,800, making an aggregate of $3,342,002; and 
leaving a balance in favor of the city, after deduct- 
ing all that has been expended for the accommo- 
dation of the Government and the city since 1800, 
of $657,381. The whole of this vast amount of 
property, moreover, has been, during the existence 
of this city, exempt from taxation, while a tax, 
averaging eighty cents on every hundred dollars 
worth of property has been paid by individual 
proprietors. The public grounds and buildings 
were valued by the assessors of the city, in 1838, 
in compliance with the act of the Corporation of 
the 29th of October, 1836, at $6,978,003. Had 
this property been taxed at the same rate as that of 



CORPOllATION. 



149 



the other property holders, the increased revenue 
to the Corporation would have amounted to nearly 
three millions of dollars. 

The following table will show the valuation of 
the real and personal property in thecity of Wash- 
ington, ovv^ed by private individuals, for the year 
1840. 













Tax at 75 


Wards. 


Lots. 


Buildings. 


Personal. 


Total. 


cents per 


1st. 










«100 


8 732,929 


% 810,220 


«246,225 


Jgl,789,374 


;gl3,420 30f 


2nd. 


989,154 


1,077,080 


239,400 


2,305,634 


17,292 26 


3rd. 


1,735,959 


1,812,925 


360,300 


3,909,184 


29,318 SSi 


4th. 


207,422 


297,100 


56,400 


560,922 


4,206 911 


5th. 


171,482 


171,070 


22,850 


865,402 


2,740 52 


6th. 


111,996 


216,800 


43,100 


371,896 


2,789 22i 


«3, 948,942 


;g4, 385,195 


«96S,275 


;?9,S02,412 


Jg69,768 11 



The additions to the assessment of 1840 w^ill be 
for the year 1841 considerable, as more improve- 
ments have been made during that year than du- 
ring any preceding one since the origin of the 
city ; and the aggregate tax on real and personal 
property cannot be estimated at less than $72,300. 



CORPORATION. 



The city of Washington was first incorporated 
by Congress, in May, 1802. By the charter then 
granted, the Mayor was appointed by the Presi- 
dent yearly, and the two branches of the City 
Council by the people, in general ticket. A sup- 
plement was made to this charter, in May, 1812; 



150 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

by which the Corporation was made to consist of 
a Mayor, Board of Aldermen and Board of Com- 
mon Council; the former to be chosen by joint bal- 
lot of the two boards annually. In 1820 the pre- 
sent charter of the city was granted. By this 
charter the Mayor is elected every two years by 
the people, on the first Monday in June; the mem- 
bers of the Board of Aldermen at the same time, for 
two years, and those of the Common Council for 
one year; two Aldermen and three Councilmen 
from each ward. The Mayor and Aldermen are 
ex-ojjicio Justices of the Peace. Every white citi- 
zen of the United States of lawful age, and a resi- 
dent of the city one year previous to the election, 
and assessed on the books of the Corporation for 
the year ending on the 31st of December preceding 
the election, and who has paid all taxes legally 
assessed and due on personal property, when legal- 
ly required to do so, shall be entitled to vote for 
Mayor and members of the two boards. The 
person having the greatest number of votes shall 
be Mayor ; but in case of equality of votes, the two 
boards, by joint ballot, shall elect. The Mayor 
must be a free white male citizen of the United 
States, at least thirty years of age, a freeholder, and 
who shall have resided in the city for two years im- 
mediately preceding the election. In the event g( 
his death, resignation, &c., the two boards shall 
elect a person to serve during the remainder of the 
term, or during such inability. Each alderman and 
councilman must be over twent\r-five years of age, 
a free white male citizen of the United States, a re- 
sident of the city for one year next preceding the 
election, a resident of the ward for which he was 



CORPORATION. 151 

elected, a f/eeholder, and assessed for the j^ear end- 
ing the 31st of Decennber next preceding- the day 
of election, to be qualified to serve. The city is 
divided into six Wards: the First Ward embra- 
ces that part of the city west of Fifteenth street west; 
the Second Ward that part east of Fifteenth street 
to Tenth street west; the Third Ward that part east 
of Tenth street to First street west and the north 
of E street south ; the Fourth Ward that part east 
of First street west to Eighth street east and north 
of E street south ; the Fifth Ward that part east of 
Tenth street west to Fourth street east and south of 
E street south; and the residue of the city consti- 
tutes the Sixth Ward. A tax of seventy-five cents 
is imposed on every hundred dollars worth of real 
and personal property; and real property, whether 
improved or unimproved, on which two or more 
years taxes shall remain unpaid after having be- 
come due, shall be sold to pay such taxes, with all 
cost and charges ; but the owner is allowed two 
years to redeem it, by paying all taxes, expenses, 
and ten per cent, interest thereon. By the fifteenth 
section of this charter, the Commissioner of the 
Public Buildings is required to reimburse to the 
Corporation a just proportion of any expense which 
may be incurred in laying open, paving, or other- 
wise improving any of the streets or avenues in 
front of, or adjoining to, or which passes through 
or between any public square or reservation; to 
be paid out of the sales of public lots in the city. 

Finances of the Corporation of Wash- 
ington. — Receipts, expenditures, and contiibutions 
to the general fund, for the year ending 1st of July, 
1841; 



152 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

General Fund, Receipts, - -$25,43170 
Expenditures, - - - - 65,702 93 
Contributions by several Wards, - 40,271 33 
Total receipts in the general and 

Ward funds, including balances to the 

credit of the Wards, - - - 92,974 34 

Funded debt to the 1st july, 1841 : 

Five per cent, stock on account 

ofgeneralfund, - - - -$194,722 49 

Six per cent, stock on account 

ofgeneralfund,- - - - 524,809 52 

719,532 01 

Aggregate Ward debts, - - 100,968 99 

820.501 00 
Redeemed during the past year, - 1,156 72 

Aggregate funded debt on 1st of 
July, 1841, - . - . $819,344 23 

The first Mayor of this city was Robert Brent, 

who was appointed by the President under the 

first charter, and who served gratuitously, from 

1802 to 1812, when a new charter was granted. 

Daniel Rapine, elected by the Council in 1812. 

James H. Blake, do. do. 1813 to 1817. 

Benjamin G. Orr, do. do. 1817 to 1819. 

Sam'l M. Smallwood,do. do. 1819 to 1820. 

and by the people, - - - 1820 to 1822. 

T. Carbery, elected by the people, 1822 to 1824. 

Roger C. Weightman, elected by 

the people and Council, - - 1824 to 1827. 
.Joseph Gales, Jun., do. Council, 1827 to 1830. 
John P. Van Ness, do. people, 1830 to 1834. 



CORPORATION. 15'i 

W. A. Bradley, elected by people, 1834 to 183G. 
Peter Force, do. do. 183Gtol840. 

W. W. Seaton, do. do. 1840 

The Mayor's compensation is one thousand dol- 
lars per annum, and one dollar for every acknow- 
ledgment he takes. 

ABSTRACT OF THE CORPORATION LAWS. 

Assessment. — The property of the city is as- 
sessed every five years, by three assessors appoint- 
ed by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen, who 
are sworn to assess it at what they believe to be the 
cash value of the property at the time of the valua- 
tion. No new building is to be taxed until the 1st 
day of January after its completion. The asses- 
sors may require from the owner a written list of 
his property, and if he refuses he shall be subject 
to a fine of ten dollars. These general assessors 
are allowed two dollars per diem for their ser- 
vices, and required to make a return of their as- 
sessment to the Register, before the last Monday 
in September. The taxable property of the city 
is also assessed annually by three freeholders, ap- 
pointed like the preceding, whose duty it is to assess 
and value all real and personal property not before 
assessed, and to regulate any former assessment ; 
and they receive a compensation of forty dollars 
each. With a view to the security of the property 
holders, a Board of Appeals has been established, 
consisting of three freeholders, appointed as the for- 
mer, who have the power to hear and decide on 
all appeals from the assessment of the quinquen- 
nial and annual assessors; and to abate, increase, 



154 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

alter, or amend the assessment previously made, 
so as to equalize the valuation of the assessable 
property. This board meets on the second Mon- 
day of October annually, in the City Hall, and 
there sits for five days. Their compensation is 
two dollars per diem. 

Coal and Wood. — All bituminous and anthra- 
cite coal brought to the city for sale is required to 
be measured, if desired, by sworn measurers ap- 
pointed by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen. 
Five pecks are allowed to the bushel of the for- 
mer, and twenty-two hundred and forty pounds to 
the ton of the latter. No measurer is permitted to 
deal in coal. Scales and weights are required to be 
kept by coal merchants, &c. The measurer is al- 
lowed twenty-five cents per ton of anthracite, and 
half a cent per bushel of bituminous coal, as a 
compensation. 

All wood brought to the city by water to be 
corded and measured ; each cord to be eight feet in 
length, four feet in breadth, and four feet four inch- 
es in height, well stowed and packed, and proper 
allowance to be made for crooked and defective 
wood. The measurers are appointed as other offi- 
cers of the Corporation, and allowed six cents per 
cord, to be paid by the seller. A penalty of two 
dollars per cord is imposed for selling without 
cording, and the measurer is not allowed to deal in 
wood. 

Collector of Taxes. — The collector is ap- 
pointed like other officers of the Corporation; is 
required to give a bond of fifteen thousand dollars, 
with sureties, to be approved by the Mayor; and 
receives a commission on the sums collected. 



CORPORATION. 155 

not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars per annum. 
He holds his office in the City Hall ; is required 
to furnish a detailed bill of taxes to each tax payer, 
and to deposite monthly the amounts collected by 
him in the Bank of Washington, Fie is also re- 
quired to advertise personal property for two weeks 
before the sale, and real estate belonging to per- 
sons not residing in the United States for six 
months ; to persons in the United States, and not in 
the District of Columbia, three months; and to 
those residing in the District, six weeks. No real 
improved property can be sold on which personal 
property of sufficient value to pay the tax can be 
found, unless at the written request of the owner of 
such improved property. All real property sold 
for taxes may be redeemed within two years, or at 
any time prior to the payment of the purchase 
money by the purchaser, by paying the amount of 
taxes and expenses and ten per cent, per annum. 
If not redeemed, the surplus over and above the 
amount of taxes and expenses goes to the original 
owner ; and if such owners be minors, mortgagees 
or others having an equitable interest in the pro- 
perty, they shall be allowed one year after such 
minors shall come to full age or after such mort- 
gagees, or others having equitable interest, shall 
obtain possession of or a decree for the sale of 
such property, to redeem the property so sold, by 
paying ten per cent, per annum, and the taxes and 
expenses from the day of sale till redeemed. 

Dogs. — Every owner of a dog is required to 
obtain a license for keeping such dog, for which 
he must pay two dollars for each male, and five 
dollars for each female, to be paid on the 1st of 



156 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

January of each year, under a penalty of not less 
than five nor more than ten dollars. Every dog 
must have a collar with the name of the owner 
and the letters W C written or stamped on it; and 
if found going at large, the tax not having been 
paid and without a collar, he is liable to be killed. 
Dogs are prohibited from following their masters 
to the market at any time of the year under a pe- 
nalty not exceeding three dollars for each ofience. 

Free Negroes, Mulattoes, &c. — All free 
negroes and persons of color are required to exhi- 
bit satisfactory evidences of their freedom to the 
Register, with a list of the names, ages and sexes 
of their families, under the penalty of six dollars 
for every month they shall neglect to do so. The 
Register to furnish a written permit to each head 
of a family, authorizing them to reside in the city. 
All idle, disorderly or tumultuous assemblages of 
negroes are prohibited, and the person offending 
to be recognized with one or more sureties in the 
penalty of twenty dollars for his or her peaceable 
and orderly behavior, for a time not exceeding six 
months. If found playing at cards, dice or other 
game of an immoral tendency, or shall be present 
when such game is playing, shall be fined not ex- 
ceeding ten dollars. Not to have a dance, ball or 
assembly, at his or her house, without a permit 
from the Mayor, under the penalty of ten dollars. 
Not to go at large in the city without a pass from, 
a magistrate or respectable citizen after ten o'clock 
at night, unless engaged in driving a cart, or other 
carriage, under a penalty not exceeding ten dol- 
lars, and to be confined m the lock-up house till 
next morning. If found drunk in the public streets, 



CORPORATION. 157 

•&c., or guilty of obscene and profane language 
or behavior, to be fined not exceeding three dol- 
lars for each offence. When refusing or neg- 
lecting to pay, or secure to be paid the fine, he or 
she shall be committed to the work house until the 
fine be paid, not exceeding six months. Slaves 
found offending against the law to be punished 
corporally with stripes, not exceeding thirty-nine. 
Every free negro or mulatto or person manumit- 
ted, required to exhibit to the Mayor satisfactory 
evidence of freedom, to be recorded by the Regis- 
ter, and to enter into a bond to the Mayor, &c., 
with five good and sufficient freehold sureties, in the 
penalty of one thousand dollars, for his or her good 
and orderly conduct, and not be chargeable to the 
Corporation, to be renewed yearly, under a penal- 
ty not exceeding twenty dollars; and when failing, 
to be ordered by the Mayor to depart forthw^ith 
from the city, and upon failure, to be sent to the 
work house for a period not exceeding six months 
in any one commitment. If unable to establish 
their title to freedom, to be committed to jail as ab- 
sconding slaves. The Mayor is empow^ered to dis- 
charge from imprisonment when evidence is fur- 
nished of their title to freedom, and that they and 
their families and dependents will forthwith de- 
part from the city; but upon failure to do so, or 
if they return at any time within twelve months 
thereafter, they shall be again committed. The 
children of such persons bound out to servitude by 
the guardians of the poor not to be released till the 
end of their term of service. No license for any 
purpose whatever to be granted to any free person 
of color, or person acting as agent, except to drive 

F 



I 58 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

carts, drays, hackney carriages, or ivagous. Not 
to sell or "barter any spirituous liquors, wine, cor- 
dial, porter, ale, &g., in the city, nor to keep any 
tavern, ordinary, refectory or eating-house, for pro- 
fit or gain, under the penalty of twenty dollars for 
each offence. All secret meetings, and meetings 
for religious worship, beyond ten o'clock at night, 
prohibited under the penalty of five dollars. 

Slaves. — No slave can reside in the city, unless 
owned by a resident, or hired by a non-resident to 
an inhabitant, for which he must pay a tax of 
twenty dollars per annum, if a male, and two dol- 
lars if a female ; under the penalty of twenty dol- 
lars for each neglect. Residents hiring such slaves 
liable to the same penalty, and also to a fine of five 
dollars per month while he or she shall continue to 
hue such slave. No slave of a resident shall keep 
house without a bond, in the penalty of five hun- 
dred dollars, with good and sufficient sureties for 
the sober, orderly and decentconduct of such slave, 
to be given by the owner, under a penalty of twen- 
ty dollars for every week such slave shall keep 
house, to be incurred by the owner. Every per- 
son bringing or sending any slaves to the city to 
hire or reside, shall, within twenty days thereafter, 
cause them to be recorded on the books of the Cor- 
poration, and make an alTidavit that they are bona 
fide his or her property, under the penalty of twen- 
ty dollars for each slave. 

Foot Walks. — Riding or driving any horse, 
wagon, cart or other carriage, on any paved or 
gravelled foot walks prohibited under a penalty of 
two dollars; or obstructing the same with boxes, 
barrels, building materials, &c., under the penalty 



CORPORATION. 159 

of one dollar, and one dollar for every day the 
same shall remain, except wood, which may re- 
msLin forty-eight hours in the street and no longer. 
Building materials permitted to occupy one-half 
the width of the pavement and one-third of the 
breadth of the carriage way, and no more, and not 
to remain longer than thirty days after the house 
shall be completed. 

Gaming. — No kind of gaming tables, except li- 
censed billiard tables, is allowed, under the penalty 
of fifty dollars for every day such table or device 
shall be kept. Persons convicted to give bond 
with the sum of three hundred dollars, not to vio- 
late the law for six months, or be confined to labor 
in the work house of the city until the security 
be given; a person allowing any kind of gaming 
in his or her house to pay fifty dollars for every 
day or less time it shall be allowed, and if a tavern 
or ordinary keeper, or retailer of wine and spirit- 
uous liquors, he or she shall forfeit their license. 

Hackney Carriages. — All persons running 
or using a hackney carriage, cab, or any other 
vehicle for the conveyance or transportation of 
persons in or about the city, for hire, without pre- 
viously obtaining a license therefor, are liable to 
the penalty often dollars for every ofTence. The 
price of a license to a resident, or one who has 
resided for six months in the city previous to the 
issue of such license, is ten dollars per annum ; 
to one residing in Georgetown for six months 
previously, at the rate of twenty dollars, and to all 
other persons, fifty dollars per annum. Persons 
applying for licenses for hackney carriages, cabs, 
&c., required to give satisfactory evidence to the 

F 1 



160 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Register of their residence, and an affidavit that 
the hackney carriage, cab, &c., belongs to them, 
and is to be run for their exclusive benefit. Non- 
resident owners of hackney carriages, cabs, &c., 
required to give bond, with sufficient sureties to be 
approved by the Mayor, for the payment of all 
fines and penalties which the drivers of their car- 
riages may incur for violations of the laws of this 
city. The number of the license is required to be 
put on with metal, or painted in plain and legible 
figures at least two inches in length, on each side 
of the carriage, cab, &c., under a penalty of two 
dollars for each offence ; and persons aliixing or 
causing or sufTering to be affixed a number to their 
carriages, cabs, &c., without first obtaining a li- 
cense therefor, shall be fined ten dollars for each 
offence. 

The streets and avenues in front of any public 
spaces or squares, except opposite Market Houses, 
on the side next to them, are established as stands 
for carriages ; and the Mayor is authorized to es- 
tablish such other stands as he may think neces- 
sary. Every carriage, cab, &c., is required to be 
placed lengthwise the street upon these stands, and, 
if in front of any building, at least fifteen feet from 
the curb stone, and not to be in the line of other 
cross streets, or to prevent or obstruct the passage 
of wagons, carriages, or persons on foot from 
crossing in the line of the footways. Every 
driver is required, while occupying any stand, 
to sit on his seat or stand near the carriage, with 
the reins in his hands, and not to absent himself 
except in cases of necessity, without leaving the 
reins in the hands of some capable person. He is 



COKPOKATiON. 161 

moreover prohibited from cracking and slashing 
his whip so as to annoy persons passing; from 
disturbing or annoying persons by boisterous or 
riotous conduct, or creating any unusual or unne- 
cessary noise or tumult, under a penahy to the 
owner of such hackney carriage, cab, &c., of not 
less than one dollar nor more than ten dollars for 
each offence. 

Every carriage, &c., is required while in motion 
to be kept on the side of the street which shall be 
on the risfht side of the driver ; and, on the del 



. . , ivery 

of passengers, proceed immediately to the proper 
stand; nor to remain near the footways longer than 
is necessary to take or deliver passengers, under a 
penalty of one dollar for each offence. 

On all public occasions private carriages, owned 
by persons subject to the operation of the local or- 
dinances of the city, are placed under the same 
regulations, and the owners and drivers are sub- 
jected to the same penalties as the owners or dri- 
vers of hackney carriages, cabs, &c. 

Fare. — Between day-break and eight o'clock^ 
P. M. 

From the Capitol square to the Eastern branch 
bridge, (known as the Navy Yard bridge,) 31 cts. 

From the Capitol square to the Eastern branch 
bridge, (known as the Middle bridge,) 31 cents; 

From the Capitol square to the Navy Yard, 25 
cents; 

From the Capitol square to the south end of 
New- Jersey avenue, 25 cents ; 

From the Capitol square to C4recnleaf's point, 
25 cents : 



162 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

From the Capitol square to Seventeenth street 
west, 25 cents ; 

For any distance between the Capitol square 
and any of the abovementioned places, not exceed- 
ing one-half of the entire distance, I2i cents; but 
any distance more than one-half shall be reckoned 
as the entire distance ; 

From the Navy Yard to the Middle bridge, 25 
cents ; 

From the President's square to Greenleaf's 
point, 25 cents; 

From the President's square to the western 
limits of the city, 25 cents; 

From the Baltimore Railroad depot to the Na- 
tional or Indian Queen Hotels, i2i cents; 

From the said depot to the hotel upon Pennsyl- 
vania avenue, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
streets, 25 cents ; 

From the National or Indian dueen Hotels, to 
City Hall, or from any place in the vicinity of those 
places, to the Steamboat wharf, \2h cents; 

From the Steamboat wharf to either of the said 
places, or places in their vicinity, 12i cents; 

From the National or Indian Queen Hotel, the 
City Hall, or any place in the vicinity of them, to 
any place east of Seventeenth street west, or to 
any place west of Sixth street east, or to any 
place south of P street north, or to any place north 
of K street south, I2i cents; 

For any distance between Greenleaf's point and 
the Navy Yard, the Navy Yard and Middle bridge, 
or between the President's square and Greenleaf's 
point, or the western limits of the city, not exceed- 
ing; one-half the entire distance, twelve and a half 



CORPORATION. 163 

cents ; but any distance more than the one half, 
shall be reckoned as the whole distance. 

No charge, however, can be made exceeding 
twelve and a half cents per mile, for any distance 
above two miles. 

In case of detention of a hackney carriage, &c., 
over five minutes, the driver shall be allowed on the 
whole hack, &c., a sum not exceeding twelve and 
a half cents for every fifteen minutes: and for con- 
veyance of persons from one place to another, not 
mentioned above, at the rate of twelve and a half 
cents per mile. For detentions later than eight 
o'clock, P. M., at the rate of fifty per cent, on the 
foregoing charges in addition. Owner or driver 
refasirig to carry a passenger at the above rates, 
or who shall demand or receive any greater sum 
for conveyance, or shall take up, when more than 
two passengers are in a hack, or when they shall 
agree to pay for three seats, more passengers, with- 
out permission of tKe persons in the hack, shall pay 
jive dollars for every offence; and if such owner 
or driver shall demand or receive ^uy greater sum 
than that above specified, from any non-resident^ 
or shall refuse to carry him at the above rates, he 
shdiW forfeit and fay double the above penalty. 

Sleighs running for hire are subject to the same 
provisions, regulations and penalties as the hack- 
ney carriages, cabs, &c., and the owners are re- 
quired to take out license for running the same, 
provided they be not owners of hackney carriages, 
cabs, &c. 

An abstract of this law is to be furnished by 
the Register to every owner of a hackney carriage, 
cab, &c., and to each ordinary or tavern keeper, a 
f3 



164 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

copy of the rates of fare established by this act, and 
a copy of the abstract neatly printed and framed ; 
and it is made the duty of every such ordinary or 
tavern keeper, on the receipt of it to hang it up for 
public information in the most conspicuous part of 
his house, under the penalty of six dollars for every 
week he may neglect to do so. 

No person under sixteen years of age is allow- 
ed to drive any hackney carriage, sleigh, or cab, 
under a penalty of five dollars for each offence. 

Hawkers and Pedlars. — All hawkers and 
pedlars are prohibited from hawking or carrying 
about in this city any goods, wares or merchan- 
dise, except such as are manufactured within the 
city, without a license, for which fifty dollars shall 
be paid, under the penalty of twenty dollars for 
each offence. Poultry, fish, meat, breadstuffs, but- 
ter, cheese, eggs, vegetables and fruits are except- 
ed. 

Health. — A Board of Health, consisting of 
one physician and one citizen of each ward, is 
annually appointed, who has the powder to adopt 
such a code of regulations for the preservation of 
the health of the city as may not be repugnant to 
the charter ; to declare what are considered by it 
as nuisances or sources of disease; to cause to be 
removed, under a penalty of from one to five dol- 
lars, any nuisance that may exist in any cellar or 
domestic enclosure, after giving notice thereof to 
the owner to remove the same ; and to demand 
entry into any house, cellar, or enclosures in which 
its members have cause to suspect that a nuisance, 
dangerous to the health of the city, exists; and the 
owner or occupier refusing to open the same and 



CORPORATION. 165 

admit a free examination, shall forfeit and pay the 
sum often dollars. 

Hogs. — Hogs are prohibited from going at 
large, and it is lawful for any police officer or any 
other person to lake them up, and convey them to 
the Washington Asylum for the use of the asylum. 
The person taking them up and conveying them 
to the asylum, shall receive one dollar for each 
hog so taken up and delivered. 

Non-resident Merchants. — Persons not ac- 
tual- residents are prohibited from selling or offer- 
ing to sell any goods, wares, or merchandise, without 
(irst obtaining a license from the Register, for which 
they are required to pay one hundred and twen- 
ty-five dollars for one year, eighty dollars for six 
months, and sixty dollars for three months: no li- 
cense to be granted for less than three months. Per- 
sons offending against this law liable to the penal- 
ty of twenty dollars for every day they shall sell. 
Residents obtaining a license to sell goods, &c., not 
to allow any non-residents to sell under their li- 
cense, under a penalty of twenty dollars for each 
day they shall sell. 

Nuisances. — Persons making excavations in 
the streets or public reservations and suffering 
them to remain open twenty-four hours are liable to 
a fine of five dollars, and if after notice thereof by 
the commissioner, they neglect to fill up the same 
within ten days, to a fine of ten dollars. The 
owner of every vacant lot in which an excavation 
exists, is required to have it filled up, and upon 
refusal to fill up, drain, or enclose the excavation, 
drain the stagnant waters, or enclose the areas, he 
shall pay a fine often dollars, exclusive of the ex- 
*-4 



166 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON, 

pense incurred in filling up, draining or enclosing 
the same. Persons having or causing any nui- 
sance or obstruction, to be fined one dollar, and if 
not removed in twenty-four hours after due notice 
in writing from the commissioner, to be fined ten 
dollars. Every cow, horse, &c., dying on any of 
the streets, &c., must be removed and buried by 
the owner within twelve hours after being duly 
notified, under a penalty of not less than five nor 
more than ten dollars. Persons leaving ofials of 
fish, without burying them, more than twenty- 
four hours, to be fined ten dollars ; making an ex- 
cavation under a privy instead of using a box, to 
be fined ten dollars, and the excavation to be filled 
up at the expense of the owner; and obstructing a 
bridge to be fined one dollar. When any member 
of the Board of Health shall give notice of any 
nuisance in warm weather, it must be removed 
within twenty-four hours under a penalty of five 
dollars, to be paid by the person offending; and all 
nuisances or obstructions whose removal is not 
otherwise provided for shall be removed by the 
commissioner of the ward, at the expense of the 
person offending, if it does not exceed the amount 
of the penalty. 

Police Officers of the city. — These con- 
sist of twelve magistrates, two for each ward, to be 
designated in joint meeting of the two boards, and 
ten Police Constables appointed by the Mayor and 
Board of Aldermen: two for the First, two for the 
Second, three for the Third ward, and one for each 
of the three Eastern wards; the latter three also act 
as Commissioners of their respective wards. These 
constables are required to enforce the laws of the 



CORPORATION. 167 

Corporation, and to make monthly returns to the 
Ma^'or, under a penalty of ten dollars for every 
neglect. Their compensation is fifty dollars per 
annum; but the Police Constables of the Fourth, 
Fifth and Sixth wards receive an addition of fifty 
dollars each a year for performing the duties of 
Commissioners. 

Pumps, Wells, Springs, and Hydrants. — 
Water is supplied to a neighborhood by wells, 
pumps, springs, or hydrants, upon the application 
to the Mayor of two-thirds of the inhabitants, or so 
many as in his opinion constitute that proportion 
of the inhabitants of a neighborhood, and the ex- 
pense to be paid by the Corporation, and afterwards 
assessed on the real property within such distance 
of the pump, hydrant, or spring, as may be bene- 
fitted or the value thereof enhanced thereby; one 
half of the expense thereof to be reimbursed or 
paid by the owners of such property. The pumps, 
hydrants and springs to be afterwards kept in or- 
der or repair by the Corporation. No fish to be 
cleaned, clothes washed, horses watered, or casks 
filled and left at any public spring, pump, or hy- 
drant, by which the water may be rendered impure, 
under a penalty of five dollars for every offence. 

Shooting. — No person is allowed to fire a gun 
or pistol idly or for sport, within two hundred and 
fifty yards of any dwelling house in that part of 
the city contained in north M street, Massachu- 
setts avenue, Seventh street, Pennsylvania avenue, 
the Eastern branch, Sixth street, West Virginia 
avenue and Rock creek, or in any part of the city 
on the Sabbath, under a penalty not exceeding ten 
f5 



168 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

dollars nor less than five dollars. Parents and 
masters accountable for those under them. 

Taxes. — All property, real and personal, within 
the limits of the city is taxable, with the following 
exceptions, viz: houses of public worship and the 
lots or ground on which they stand ; the property 
of the Corporation: burial grounds; the personal 
property of the United States; and the wearing- 
apparel, and the necessary tools and implements 
used in carrying on any trade or occupation. 
The tax on every hundred dollars worth 

of real and personal property is, - 75cts. 
On male slaves, property of residents, 
between fifteen and forty-five years of 

age, $2 00 

Female do., property of residents, be- 
tween fifteen and forty- five years of 

age, - " - 1 ^^ 

Male do., property of non-residents, be- 
tween twelve and eighteen years of 
age, .-.--.--. 5 00 
Male do., property of non-residents, over 

eighteen years of age, - - - - 20 00 
Female do., property of non-residents, 

over fifteen years of age, - - - - 2 00 

On dogs, male, 2 00 

female, 5 00 

On coaches, from - - - - - 2 to 15 00 
For a license to run a hackney carriage, 

cab, &c., to residents, - - - - 10 00 
For do., to residents of Georgetown, - 20 00 
For do., to non-residents, - - - - 50 00 
For license to keep a tavern or ordinary, 60 00 



CORPORATION. 169 

For license to sell all kinds and quanti- 
ties of spirituous liquors, wines, cor- 
dials, strong beer and cider, - - -$60 00 
For license to retail spirituous liquors, 
not less than a pint, and to sell groce- 
ries, hardware, dry goods, &c., - - 20 00 
For license to sell hardware, medicine, 

perfumery, jewelry, &c., - - - 20 00 
For license to keep confectioner's shop, 10 00 
For license to keep do,, with privilege to 
sell cordials and fermented and dis- 
tilled liquors, 60 00 

For license to a merchant to sell bottled 

porter, ale, &c., ------ 50 00 

For license for theatrical amusements, 

per day, 5 00 

For license for keeping a billiard table, 100 00 
For license for vending lottery tickets, - 300 00 
For license to a broker or money ex- 
changer, - - 200 00 

For license to sell hats and shoes not 
manufactured in the city, or to sell 
the same, in addition to any other li- 
cense, 20 00 

For license to hawkers and pedlars, - 50 00 
For license to auctioneers, - - - - 100 00 
For license to non-resident merchants, 125 00 
For license for selling fire-crackers, - 50 00 
For license for dealing in slaves, - - 400 00 
For license for running carts and drays, 

property of residents, each, - - - 2 50 
For license for running wagons, each, 5 50 
For license for running wagons, pro- 
perty of non-residents, each, - - - 8 00 
f6 



170 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

For license for running carts and drays, 

property of non-residents, each, - - $5 00 

For license for exhibiting curiosities, 

per week, 10 00 

All persons carrying on the same line of busi- 
ness for which the license was obtained, without a 
renewal thereof, within ten days from the expira- 
tion of the license, shall forfeit and pay ten dollars 
for every week they shall carry on such business, 
or neglect or refuse to renew their licenses. 

Trees. — Any person injuring any of the trees, 
and boxes around them, in any of the avenues or 
streets of the city, is liable to a fine of not less than 
five dollars, nor exceeding twenty dollars : and for 
tying a horse to any such tree or box he shall for- 
feit and pay five dollars. 

An abstract of the Building Regulations 
adopted by president washington and 
THE Commissioners of the city, in 1791-4. 

The first regulation declares, that all buildings 
on the streets shall be parallel thereto, or with- 
drawn therefrom at the pleasure of the improver. 

That the person or persons appointed by the 
commissioners to superintend the buildings may 
enter on the land of any person to set out the 
foundation and regulate the walls to be built be- 
tween the parties, as to the breadth and thickness 
thereof, which foundation shall be laid equally on 
the lands of the persons between whom such par- 
ty walls are to be built, and shall be of the breadth 
and thickness determined by such person proper ; 
and the first builder shall be reimbursed one moiety 



BUILDING REGULATIONS. 171 

of the charge of such party wall, or so much 
thereof as the next builder shall have occasion to 
make use of, before such next builder shall any 
ways use or break into the wall; the charge or 
value thereof to be set by the person or persons so 
appointed by the commissioners. 

That no vaults shall be permitted under the 
streets, nor any encroachments on the footways 
above by steps, stoops, porches, cellar doors, win- 
dows, ditches, or leaning walls, nor shall there be 
any projection over the street other than the eves 
of the house, without the consent of the commis- 
sioners. 

These regulations were the terms and condi- 
tions upon which the conveyances were to be made 
according to the deeds in trust of the lands with- 
in the city. By a subsequent regulation so much 
of the foregoing is dispensed with as will allow 
and permit such areas or dit2hes to be made as are 
walled on the street side with good stone walls, at 
least eighteen mches thick of the height of the 
area, and palisaded with iron as aforesaid on the 
centre of the wall, leaving seven feet between the 
line of the street and the palisading. By a pro- 
clamation of President Monroe, it was declared 
that no wooden house, covering more than three 
hundred and twenty square feet, or higher than 
twelve feet from the sill to the eves, shall be erect- 
ed, nor shall such house be placed within twenty- 
four feet of any other house. By the acts of the 
Corporation of March 30, 1822, and July 10th, 
1822, it is declared to be unlawful to erect any 
frame house higher than twenty feet from the sill to 
the top ridge of the roof, under the penalty of five 



172 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

dollars for every week the same shall remain; and 
to erect any wooden dwelling house or other wood- 
en house nearer to a brick or stone building than 
twenty-four feet, under the penalty of twenty dol- 
lars, and five dollars for every week such wooden 
building shall be continued; and all frame houses 
intended to be occupied as a blacksmith's shop, 
factories, or livery stables, are prohibited under the 
above penalties from being erected within fifty feet 
of any brick or stone building. Every building 
one or more sides of which shall be of wood, 
though one or both gable ends are of brick, shall 
be considered as a wooden building. 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF THE 
GOVERNMENT. 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The President must be thirty-five years of age, 
fourteen years a resident of the United States, and 
a natural born citizen, or a citizen at the time the 
Constitution was adopted. In case of removal from 
oflice, death, resignation, or inability, the duties of 
the oflice devolve on the Vice-President; and in 
case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, 
both of President and Vice-President, the Presi- 
dent of the Senate 'pro iem'pore, and if no President 
of the Senate, then the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives for the time being is to act as Pre- 
sident. The President is the commander-in-chief 
of the army and navy of the United States, and of 
the niilitia of the several States when called into 



PRESIDENT. 173 

the service of the United States. He grants re- 
prieves, and pardons offences against the United 
States, except in cases of impeachment. He has 
power to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the 
Senators concur; to nominate, and by and with 
the consent of the Senate, appoint all ambassa- 
dors, other public ministers, consuls, judges of 
the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the 
United States, established by law, whose appoint- 
ments are not otherwise provided for by the Con- 
stitution and laws. His salary is twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars per annum; which cannot be in- 
creased or diminished during the term for which 
he was elected, and which term is four years. He 
and the Vice-President are elected by electors, 
chosen as the Legislatures of the several States 
may provide. The electors shall equal in num- 
ber the Senators and Representatives of the seve- 
ral States at the time of election ; and no Senator 
or Representative, or person holding an office of 
trust or profit under the United States, can be ap- 
pointed an elector. 

The votes for President and Vice-President are 
given by the electors on the first Wednesday of De- 
cember, in everyfourth year, throughout the Union. 
The electors meet in their respective States, and vote 
by ballot for President and Vice-President sepa- 
rately. The lists of the number of votes given and 
persons voted for are sealed and transmitted to the 
seat of the Government, directed to the President 
of the Senate, who, in presence of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, opens all the certificates, 
and the votes are counted by a committee appointed 
for that purpose. If no person has a majority of votes 
r8 



174 GUIDE TO WASHIKGTON, 

then the House of Representatives chooses imme- 
diately the President from the persons, not exceed- 
ing three, having the highest number of votes on 
the list of those voted for as President. But in 
choosing the President, the votes are taken by 
States, the representation from each State having 
one vote. A majority of all the States is necessary 
to a choice. 

The following table will show the number of 
Presidents who have filled the Executive chair 
since the organization of the Government, and the 
period of their birth, inauguration, and age when 
elected. All but Washington have resided in this 
city. 

Born. Inaug. Age. 

1. George Washington, Feb. 22, 1732 1789 57 

2. John Adams, Oct. 19, 1735 1797 62 

3. Thomas Jefferson, April 2, 1743 1801 58 

4. James Madison, Marcli 5, 1751 1809 58 

5. James Monroe, April 2, 1759 1817 58 

6. John Quincy Adams, July 2, 1766 1825 59 

7. Andrew Jackson, March 15, 1767 1829 62 

8. Martin Van Buren, Dec. 5, 1782 1837 55 

9. William H. Harrison, Feb. 9, 1773 1841 68 
iO. John Tyler, March 29, 1790 1841 51 



VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 

The Vice-President is ex-officio President of the 
Senate. His compensation is five thousand dol- 
lars per annum. His duty is to preside over the 
deliberations of the Senate, and when he does not, 
his place is supplied by a President pro tempore, 
who is chosen from the body of Senators by ballot, 
and who receives an additional compensation, The 



STATE DEPARTMENT. 175 

Vice-President is not a member of the cabinet; 
and both he and the President of the United States 
are removeable by impeachment. No person con- 
stitutionally ineligible to the office of President is 
eligible to that of Vice-President of the United 
States. 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 

Previously to the year 1789 this Department 
was styled the Department of Foreign Affairs ; to 
which it should now be exclusively confined. The 
Secretary is a member of the cabinet. He con- 
ducts the negotiations of all treaties with foreign 
powers, and corresponds officially with the Ame- 
rican Ministers at foreign courts, and with those of 
foreign powers resident near this Government. He 
performs the duties also of the Home Department. 
He has charge of the seal of the United States, but 
cannot affix it to the commission until after being 
signed by the President. He is entrusted with the 
publication and distribution of all the acts and re- 
solutions of Congress, and all treaties with foreign 
nations and Indian tribes. The original of all the 
laws and treaties, and the public correspondence 
with foreign nations, are preserved in this depart- 
ment, with copies of the statutes of the several 
vStates, which the Secretary is required to procure 
and preserve. He also grants passports to Ame- 
rican citizens visiting foreign countries; preserves 
the evidence of copy-rights, and has the control of 
the Patent Office. Like all the Executive officers, 
he holds his office at the will of the President. 
His salary is six thousand dollars per annum. 



176 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON, 



PATENT OFFICE. 



This office was established by an act of 1 790, to 
promote the progress of science and useful arts, by 
securing-, for a limited time, to authors and inven- 
tors the exclusive right to their respective writings 
and discoveries. According to this act the Secreta- 
ries of State and War and Attorney General, or any 
two of them, were on application, to grant patents 
for such inventions as they should deem sufficient- 
ly useful and important. This duty being found 
too laborious for these officers, who had other du- 
ties to attend to, the law was altered in 1793, and 
it was made the duty of the Secretary of State to 
issue patents, under the revision of the Attorney 
General. It then became a part of the State De- 
partment, and has continued so ever since. 

The first superintendent of the Patent Office 
was Dr. W. Thornton, a gentleman of consider- 
able talents, and great attainments, who continued 
to officiate for many years. In the year 1836 the 
office was destroyed by fire, and almost all the 
models, records, &c., were consumed. Upwards 
of nine thousand patents had been issued during 
the period between 1790 and 1836. In that year 
a new law was enacted, repealing all former acts 
on the subject. 

By this law the office is attached to the State 
Department, under the title of the Patent Office, 
and the chief officer is denominated the Commis- 
sioner of Patents, who is appointed by the Pre- 
sident, and whose compensation is three thousand 
dollars per annum, with the privilege of franking 
all letters and packages relating to the business ol 



STATE DEPARTMENT. 177 

the office. He appoints, with the approval of the 
Secretary of State, his chief clerk, and subordi- 
nate officers^ who are interdicted frojn acquiring-, 
except by inheritance, any right or interest in any 
patent which has been or may be granted. 

The Commissioner is required to provide a seal 
Avith a suitable device ; and all copies of records, 
books, papers, or drawings belonging to the office, 
under the signature of the Commissioner, or chief 
clerk when the office is vacant, with the sealaffixed, 
shall be competent evidence in all cases in which 
the originals could be evidence. All patents are 
issued in the name of the United States, and under 
the seal of the office, signed by the Secretary of 
State, and countersigned by the Commissioner, 
and recorded with the specifications, &c. Every 
patent shall contain a short description or title of 
the invention or discovery, and shall grant to the 
applicant, his heirs, &c., for a term not exceeding 
fourteen years, the exclusive right of making, 
using, and vending the invention or discovery. Ap- 
plication in writing for a patent may be made to the 
Commissioner, and he, on due proceedings had, 
may grant the patent; but the applicant must pre- 
viously deliver a written description of his inven- 
tion, in full, clear and exact terms, accompanied 
with a drawing and written references, or with 
specimens of the ingredients in sufficient quantity 
for experiment. These descriptions and drawings 
are to be signed by the inventor, and attested by 
two witnesses, and filed in the Patent Office. He 
must also make oath or affirmation that he believes 
himself to be the original inventor, and that he 
does not know or believe that the art, machine. 



178 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

&c., to be patented, was ever before known or 
used, and of what country he is a citizen. 

Upon filing this application, and the payment 
of thirty dollars, the Commissioner causes an ex- 
amination to be made of the alleged new inven- 
tion, and if it appears to be original, and is deemed 
of sufficient usefulness and importance, a patent is 
issued. If, however, it should appear to have been 
previously invented, the applicant is notified of the 
fact, and if he pleases to withdraw his applica- 
tion, relinquishing his claim to the model, he shall 
be entitled to receive back twenty dollars; but if 
he persists in his claim for a patent, he will be 
required to make oath or affirmation anew, and 
on an appeal and request in writing, may have 
the decision of a Board of Examiners, to consist 
of three disinterested persons to be appointed by the 
Secretary of State, and under oath, who shall re- 
ceive for their services ten dollars each. This 
board can on examination of the matter referred 
to them, reverse the decision of the Commissioner, 
in whole or in part, and he shall be governed 
thereby. Before the board shall be instituted, the 
applicant must pay twenty-five dollars. If the 
Commissioner is of opinion that the application 
would interfere with any other patent for which 
an application may be pending, or any unexpired 
patent, it is made his duty to notify the applicant 
of the fact, and if he shall be dissatisfied with such 
decision, he may appeal from it, and apply for a 
Board of Examiners, in the manner above stated. 

No original inventor, having previously taken 
out letters patent in a foreign country, and the 
same having been published within six months 



STATE DEPARTMENT. 179 

next preceding the fiJing of the specification and 
drawing, shall be deprived of the right to a patent 
for such invention. But before any apphcation for 
a patent can be considered, the applicant must pay 
into the Treasury of the United States, or into the 
Patent Office, if a citizen of the United States, or 
an alien residing in the United States for one year 
preceding, and has made oath of his intention to be- 
come a citizen, thirty dollars ; if a British subject 
five hundred dollars, and all other persons three 
hundred dollars. The moneys thus received con- 
stitute a fund for the payment of the salaries of the 
officers and clerks, and the expenses of the Patent 
Office. The executor or administrator of a person 
to whom a patent might have been granted, and 
who dies before such patent shall have been issued, , 
has the right to apply for and obtain such patent 
for the heirs at law of the deceased. 

Patents are assignable in law, either in whole 
or in part, by an instrument in writing, which 
shall be recorded in the Patent Office, within three 
months after its execution, and for which the as- 
signee shall pay to the Commissioner three dol- 
lars. Persons desiring further lime to mature 
their inventions, may upon paying twenty dollars 
into the Treasury, or Patent Office, file a caveat, 
describing his machine, &c., and praying protec- 
tion of his right till he shall have matured it; and 
the amount so paid shall be considered, if he after- 
wards takes out a patent, a part of the sum required 
to be paid for a patent, and the caveat shall be filed 
in the confidential archives of the office. 

If a patentee desires an extension of his patent 
beyond the term of his limitation, he must apply 



180 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

for it in writing to the Commissioner, and set forth 
the grounds for such application. And the Com- 
missioner, upon the applicant's paying- forty dol- 
lars to the credit of the Treasury, shall give notice 
in the principal newspapers of Washington, &c., 
of such application. 1'he Secretary of State, the 
Commissioner of the Patent Office, and the Soli- 
citor of the Treasury, shall constitute a board to 
hear and decide upon the evidence adduced before 
them, and if it shall appear to them just and pro- 
per to extend the term of the patent, it shall be 
the duty of the Commissioner to renew and ex- 
tend the patent for the term of seven years after 
the expiration of the first term ; but no extension 
shall be granted after the expiration of the term 
for which it was originally issued. 

In consequence of the destruction of the Patent 
Office by fire in 1836, Congress passed a law m 
1837, making it the duty of the Commissioner, 
among other things, to procure a duplicate of such 
of the models destroyed as were most valuable and 
interesting, and a temporary board of commission- 
ers was appointed to consider and determine upon 
the best mode of obtaining models of a suitable 
construction, and what models might be procured 
in pursuance of this section of the law. In con- 
sequence of this provision a large number of the 
lost models and drawings have been replaced, and 
the model room is rapidly filling up. 

TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 

This office was created in 1789. The Secretary 
superintends the fiscal concerns of the Govern- 



TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 181 

merit, and recommends to Congress measures for 
improving the revenue. He is a member of the 
cabinet. This department is empowered to issue 
warrants of distress in the nature of executions 
upon judgments upon certificates of balances from 
the first Comptroller against principals and sure- 
ties in default; and the judges of the courts of the 
United States are clothed with extensive chancery 
jurisdiction, to correct any evil that might result 
to individuals under such warrants. 

In 1830 the office of Solicitor of the Treasury 
was created. He superintends all civil suits com- 
menced in the name of the United States, until they 
are carried into the Supreme Court, where the At- 
torney General takes charge of them. He also 
instructs the District Attorneys, Marshals, and 
Clerks, in all matters and proceedings relating to 
those suits, and receives from them, after the end of 
each term, reports of their condition and pi'ogress; 
and receives from the collectors reports of custom 
house bonds put in suit, &c. A portion of these 
duties had previously been performed by the Fifth 
Auditor, as agent of the Treasury. 

The Treasury Department is divided into the 
office of Secretary, (who superintends the whole, 
but is not absolute,) tiuo Comptrollers^ five Audi- 
tors, a Register^ a Treasurer^ and a Solicitor. All 
moneys appropriated for the War and Navy De- 
partments must be drawn from the Treasury by 
warrants of the Secretary of the Treasury, upon 
the requisitions of the Secretaries of those depart- 
ments, countersigned by the Second Comptroller, 
and registered by the proper Auditor, All advan- 
ces of public money are prohibited in any case ; 



182 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and all persons who receive public moneys for 
disbursement must render quarterly accounts to 
the proper accounting- officers of the Treasury 
for settlement; and all officers of the Government 
who neglect to comply with this regulation are 
forthwith reported to the President, and dismissed. 
The salary of the Secretary of the Treasury is 
$6,000 per annum. 

OFFICE OF FIRST COMPTROLLER. 

This officer examines all accounts settled by the 
First and Fifth Auditors, and certifies the balances 
arising thereon to the Register; countersigns all 
w^arrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasu- 
ry ; reports to him the official forms to be used in 
the offices for collecting the public revenue, and 
the manner and form of keeping and stating the 
accounts of the several persons employed therein. 
He superintends the preservation of the public 
accounts, and provides for the regular payment of 
all moneys which may be collected. His salary 
is $3,000 per annum. 

OFFICE OF SECOND COMPTROLLER. 

The Second Comptroller decides upon all ac- 
counts originating in the War and Navy Depart- 
ments ; and from his decision there is no appeal 
except to Congress. In addition to the examina- 
tion and revisal of accounts settled in the offices of 
the Second, Third, and Fourth Auditors, he also 
decides on all appeals from the decision of the 
Auditors; registers the reports of certificates of 



TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 183 

balances for or against the United States ; regis- 
ters and countersigns all the requisitions drawn 
by the Secretaries of War and Navy, warranted 
by law; registers and preserves all contracts and 
bonds entered into or taken by those departments; 
directs suits and stoppages on account of delin- 
quences; keeps the account with each specific 
appropriation, and makes the annual and other 
statements of disbursements, and the state of the 
appropriations required by law, or the heads of 
departments, and prescribes the forms and man- 
ner of keeping and stating the accounts, and su- 
perintends their preservation. His salary is $3,000 
per annum. 

OFFICE OF FIRST AUDITOR. 

This officer receives all accounts accruing in 
the Treasury Department ; and after examination, 
certifies the balances, and transmits the accounts, 
with the vouchers and certificates, to the First 
Comptroller for his decision. His salary is the 
same as that of the Comptroller's. 

OFFICE OF SECOND AUDITOR. 

The duties of this officer are confined to tlie 
settlement of accounts arising out of the military 
service, viz: to accounts relative to the pay of the 
army, subsistence, and forage, and pay of offi- 
cers and their servants; to those belonging to the 
clothing and purchasing department ; to those lor 
the contingent disbursements of the army, where 
there have been no specific appropriations by Con- 



1S4 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

gress; to those relating to the purchase of medi- 
cines, surgical instruments, hospital stores, ^c, 
and to all accounts growing out of the medical de- 
partment of the army; to those relating to the 
recruiting service, the various arsenals, fortifica- 
tions, arming and equipping the militia, &c.; for 
disbursements at the national armories; and in the 
Indian Department, such as the payment of agents, 
presents, annuities, holding treaties, running boun- 
dary lines, &c.; and to the property accounts of the 
army arising out of the above expenditures. His 
salary is $3,000 per annum. 

OFFICE OF THIRD AUDITOR. 

In this office all accounts for the Quartermas- 
ter's Department, both as to money and property, 
are audited, and ail accounts for subsistence for the 
army, and for fortifications; for the Military Aca- 
demy, roads, surveys, and other internal improve- 
ments; for revolutionary, invalid, and half pay 
pensions; pensions to widows and orphans; out- 
standing claims arising before and during the last 
war, and all unsettled accounts of the War Depart- 
ment, from the commencement of the Government 
to the 1st of July, 1815. His salary is $o,000 
per annum, 

OFFICE OF FOURTH AUDITOR. 

The Fourth Auditor receives all accounts grow- 
ing out of the Navy Department. He examines 
them, certifies the balances, and transmits the ac- 
counts, with I he vouchers and certificates, to the 



TKEASL'JIY DEPARTMENT. 185 

Second Comptroller for his decision. His salary 
is $3,000 per annum. 

OFFICE OF FIFTH AUDITOR. 

The Fifth Auditor attends to all accounts rela- 
tive to the State Department, General Post Office, 
and those arising out of the Indian trade. He 
transmits the accounts, with the vouchers and cer- 
tificates of balances, to the First Comptroller for 
his decision. He also superintends the building 
and repairing of light houses, light vessels, bea- 
cons, buoys, and piers, the supplying the light 
houses with oil, and the adjustment of the expendi- 
tures of the light house establishment. His salary 
is $3,000 per annum. 

OFFICE OF THE TREASURER OF THE UNITED 
STATES. 

The Treasurer receives and keeps the moneys 
of the United States, and disburses the same upon 
warrants drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury, 
countersigned by the proper Comptroller and Au- 
ditor, and recorded by the Register. Salary $3,000 
per annum. 

OFFICE OF REGISTER OF THE TREASURY. 

The Register's duty is to keep all accounts of 
the receipts and expenditures of the public money, 
and of all debts due to or by the Government. He 
also keeps the district tonnage accounts of the Uni- 
ted States: receives from the Comptrollers the 



186 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

accounts which have been finally adjusted, and pre- 
serves them, with their vouchers and certificates ; 
records all warrants for the receipt or payment of 
moneys at the Treasury, certifies the same, and 
transmits to the Secretary of the Treasury copies 
of the certificates of balances of the accounts ad- 
justed. He is also required to prepare statistical 
accounts or statements of the commerce of the 
United States, to be laid before Congress annually. 
Salary $3,000 per annum. 

GENERAL LAND OFFICE. 

The head of this office is appointed by the Pre- 
sident and Senate, and is called Commissioner; 
and the office is a branch of the Treasury Depart- 
ment; but prior to 1812 patents were issued irom 
the State Department. In that year the General 
Land Office was established, in which all patents 
for land are now made out and recorded. The 
salary of the Commissioner is $3,000 per annum. 

The public lands, or national domain, are those 
originally ceded by the States, which, by virtue of 
their several charters, laid claim to them, and the 
lands held by France in Louisiana, and by Spain 
in the Floridas, at the time of purchase. The 
Indian title to these lands is extinguished by pay- 
ing an equivalent in money and goods. When the 
title is thus extinguished, the territory is laid off 
into land districts, and land offices are established 
thereon, and the duties of these offices are executed 
by a Register and Receiver of Public Moneys. 

The lands, before they are offered for sale, are 
surveyed. Thoy arc divided into townships, six 



TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 187 

miles square, which are subdivided into thirty-six 
sections, one mile square, containing each six hun- 
dred and forty acres; and are sold in whole, half, 
quarter, and half-quarter sections; complete pay- 
ment must be made on the day of purchase, and 
the highest bidder at a public sale failing to pay, 
the tract must be again offered for sale, and the 
failing bidder is rendered incapable of purchasing 
at such sale. The minimum price of these lands 
is fixed at one dollar and twenty-five cents per 
acre. The Commissioner gives due notice of the 
times and places at w^hich the sales are to take 
place ; and all patents for lands sold or granted by 
the United States, are issued by him, upon certifi- 
cates from the several land offices or military 
land warrants. Salt springs and lead mines are 
reserved from sale, but may be leased by the 
President; and one section, of six hundred and for- 
ty acres, in each township, is given as a fund for 
the perpetual support of schools in the township. 

Warrants for Virginia military bounties issue 
from the Virginia Land Office of the State, and 
are checked at the General Land Office of the 
United States, before patents can be issued on them. 
Warrants for military bounties for Revolutionary 
services, and services in the late war, issue from the 
Department of War. These warrants are in the 
nature of certificates, and the location of the two 
latter classes is determined by lot. 

By act of Congress, of 1841, the residue of the 
nett proceeds of the sales of these lands, after de- 
ducting the ten per cent, to be paid to the States of 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Mis- 
sissippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Michigan, over 



188 (JUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

and above what each of those States is entitled to by 
the terms of the compact between them and the Uni- 
ted States, is to be divided among the twenty- six States 
of the Union, the District of Columbia, and Terri- 
tories, according to their respective federal popula- 
tion as ascertained by the last census ; provided the 
distributive share to which the District of Colum- 
bia shall be entitled, shall be applied to free schools, 
or education in some other form, as Congress may 
direct. Moneys due and payable to any State, or 
the District of Columbia, as its portion, shall be first 
applied to the payment of any debt due and payable 
from such State, &c., to the United States. The nett 
proceeds to be faithfully applied to objects of inter- 
nal improvement, within the States aforesaid ; to be, 
when completed, made free for the transportation 
of the United States mail and munitions of war and 
passage of troops. 

WAR DEPARTMENT. 

This department was established in 1789. The 
head of it at first had the superintendence of naval 
affiiirs, but a new department was soon organized. 
The Secretary of War superintends every branch 
of the military service, is a member of the cabi- 
net, and is removeable at the will of the President. 
To this department belongs the erection of all 
fortifications; making topographical surveys, sur- 
veying and leasing the national lead mines, and 
directing the intercourse with Indian tribes. 

Attached to this department, and under the im- 
mediate direction of the Secretary, are the following- 
bureaus, viz: a Bureau of Requisitions; of Bounty 



vvAii DEPARTMENT. 189 

Lands; of Pensions; of Indian affairs; and an En- 
gineer office; an Ordnance office; a Commissary 
General's office; a Paymaster General's office, and 
a Surgeon General's office. All these are located 
in Washington, together with the Head- Quarters 
of the Major-General, and the Adjutant-General's 
and (Quartermaster General's offices. 

One of the most important bureaus attached to 
this department is that of Indian Affairs, to 
which all matters touching our Indian relations 
are referred, and, under the superintendence of 
the Secretary of War, acted on. This bureau is 
growing yearly more important, from our relations 
w'ith the Indian tribes, removed and being removed 
beyond the Mississippi, A new organization of 
the department should be formed, and a separate 
and independent department created, which should 
be exclusively confined to the transaction of In- 
dian affairs, under the supervision of the President 
alone. 

ENGINEER DEPARTMENT. 

The head of the Corps of Engineers holds his 
office in Washington, and directs and regulates the 
Corps of Engineers, and those of the Topographi- 
cal Engineers who may be attached to the Engi- 
neer Department, and is also the Inspector of the 
Military Academy, and charged with its corres- 
pondence. 

To this department belongs the duty of recon- 
noitering and surveying for military purposes and 
internal improvements ; the preservation of topo- 
graphical and geographical memoirs and draw- 



190 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

ings; the selection of sites, the formation of plans 
and estimates, the construction, repair, &c., of for- 
tifications, and the disbursements of the moneys ap- 
propriated for those objects, including those of the 
Military Academy. Also the superintendence of 
roads, canals, navigation of rivers, repairs and im- 
provements of harbors, or the entrance into them^ 
&c., authorized by Congress. 

The head of the Topographical bureau is also- 
stationed at Washmgton, and, among other duties, 
he is charged with the safe keeping and preserva- 
tion of the instruments, books, charts, maps, &c., 
belonging to the Engineer Department, and respon- 
sible for their preservation and arrangement. 

ORDNANCE OFFICE. 

The senior officer of the Ordnance Department 
is stationed at Washington. The duties of this 
department consist in providing, inspecting, dis- 
tributing and preserving all the articles coming 
under the head of ordnance and ordnance stores; 
in supplying the troops, posts and garrisons ac- 
cording to the wants of the service, and also in 
providmg and distributing the arms and equip- 
ments authorized for arming and equipping the 
whole body of the militia. 

QUARTERMASTER GENERAl's DEPARTMENT. 

The objects of this department are to insure an 
efficient system of supplies to the army. The 
(Quartermaster General is stationed at Washing- 
ton, and his duties are multifarious. He occasion- 



WAR DEPARTMENT. 191 

ally visits the stations of the subordinate officers of 
the department, and he has the exclusive control of 
all the quartermasters, and assistant quartermas- 
ters, of all officers and agents making disburse- 
ments on account of the department, and of all re- 
gimental and company officers, in everything rela- 
ting to barracks and quarters. An assistant quar- 
termaster is attached to the office of the Quarter- 
master General, who officiates during the absence 
of the head, and is charged with the disbursements 
at Washington. All communications relating to the 
duties of the department, or any branch or officer 
thereof, must be addressed to the Quartermaster 
General. 

The officers of this department are charged 
with providing quarters and transportation for the 
troops, and for all military stores, provisions, camp 
and garrison equipage and artillery, and for open- 
ing and repairing roads, and constructing and re- 
pairing bridges necessary to the movements of any 
part of the army. They must provide good and 
sufficient store houses for all military supplies; 
appoint storekeepers, when necessary ; purchase all 
forage, fuel, straw, &c., for the use of the troops ; 
dragoon and artillery horses, and horses, oxen, 
wagons, carts, and boats, for the transportation of 
baggage and for garrison purposes ; and provide 
materials for constructing and repairing barracks, 
hospitals, stables and bridges. 

Every officer of this department, before enter- 
ing upon the duties of his office, must give bond 
to the United States, with two or more good and 
sufficient sureties, for the faithful performance of 
his duties: the Quartermaster General in the sum 



192 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

of fifty tkousand dollars, quartermasters twenty 
thousand dollars, assistant quartermasters ten thou- 
sand dollars, and storekeepers five thousand dol- 
lars. 

PURCHASING DEPARTMENT. 

The head of this office is the Commissary Gene- 
ral, whose duty it is to purchase, on the orders and 
estimates of the War Department, all clothing, dra- 
goon saddles and bridles, tents, camp kettles, &c., 
and all articles required by the army, except such 
as are ordered to be purchased by the Ordnance, 
Quartermaster's, Subsistence, and Medical Depart- 
ments. This department is subject only to the 
orders of the Secretary of War. The office is at 
Philadelphia. 

PAYMASTER GENERAl's DEPARTMENT. 

This officer is stationed at Washington, and is 
charged with all the military responsibilities of the 
department in all its details. The subordinate 
Paymasters or officers are subject only to the 
orders of the Secretary of War and the Paymaster 
General; but are liable to arrest by the senior 
officer of the department or command to which 
they may be arranged for the regular payment of 
the troops. 

SUBSISTENCE DEPARTMENT. 

The Commissary General of Subsistence is 
stationed at Washington, and it is his duty to make 



WAR DEPARTMENT. 193 

all estimates of expenditure for his department; re- 
gulates the transmission of funds to his assistants ; 
receives their returns and accounts, and adjusts 
them for settlement. 

MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 

The Surgeon General is stationed at Washing- 
ton. He issues all orders and instructions in re- 
lation to the professional duties of the officers of 
the medical staff, and receives their reports. He 
also receives confidential reports from the medical 
directors of armies, &c., relative to the condition 
of hospitals and infirmaries; the character and con- 
duct of the surgeons and assistant surgeons, state 
of their books and accounts, medical topography, 
prevailinor diseases, causes and treatment adopted. 
He also receives from every surgeon and assistant 
surgeon duplicate semi-annual returns of the pub- 
lic property under his charge ; and annual requi- 
sitions for the supplies required for each hospi- 
tal, regiment, post, or garrison, for the ensuing 
year; and transmits them to the Apothecaries De- 
partment. From the officers of this department 
he receives duplicates of all invoices of supplies, 
put up for and delivered to the several surgeons, 
&c., and also a return of the several articles pur- 
chased, received, and issued by them. He exa- 
mines the returns and accounts of surgeons, &c., 
and if correct, certifies them, and at the end of each 
year, and oftener if necessary, sends them to the 
Second Auditor of the Treasury for final settle- 
ment. It is also his duty to make to the Secreta- 
ry of War such reports and returns as may be 

G 



194 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

necessary to explain all the concerns of the de- 
partment under his charge, 

NAVY DEPARTMENT. 

This office was organized in 1798. The Se- 
cretary issues all orders to the navy of the United 
States, and superintends the Avhole naval estab- 
lishment. He is a member of the cabinet ; and 
holds his office at the will of the President. In 
1815a Board of Navy Commissioners was created 
to aid him in the discharge of his duties. Hi^ 
salary is $6,000 per annum. 

BOARD OF NAVY COMMISSIONERS. 

This board consists of three officers of the navy, 
in rank not below that of a post captain: the offi- 
cer holding the oldest commission presides. It is 
attached to the office of the Secretary of the Navy, 
and, under his superintendence, performs all the 
duties relative to the procurement of naval stores 
and materials, and the construction, armament, 
equipment, and employment of vessels of war, &c. 
The board appoints its own Secretary, and its books 
are at all times subject to the inspection of the Pre- 
sident of the United States, and the Secretary of the 
Navy. The salary of the Commissioners is $3,500 
each per annum. 

Historical Sketch of the Navy, 

At the commencement of the Revolutionary 
war there was not a single armed vessel belong- 
ing to any of the Colonies. In 1775 Rhode-Island 



NAVY DEPARTMENT. 195 

litted out two small schooners to defend the coast- 
ing trade, and Connecticut also had two small ves- 
sels. In the spring of 1776 Massachusetts fitted 
out several armed vessels, the flag of which bore 
a figure of the pine tree, and the motto ^'Ap- 
peal to Heaven i^ which is thought to be the old 
Colonial flag. The first naval battle took place 
about three weeks after the battle of Lexington. 
A British schooner, armed with four six-pounders 
and swivels, and attended by two sloops, was at- 
tacked by about thirty young men, commanded by 
Captain O'Brien and Joseph Wheaton,* and cap- 
tured, and all on board made prisoners. Whea- 
ton had the honor of being the first to pull down 
the enemy's flag. General Washington under- 
took to get up and send out an expedition of six 
vessels, and was obliged in his instructions to the 
commanders to address them as part of the army. 
Congress had taken no steps to organize a naval 
force. Rhode- Island was the first to recommend the 
formation of one, and the Assembly of that State 
instructed its delegates to use all their efforts in 
Congress to effect it ; and that body passed resolu- 
tions to fit out a fleet, and organize a court for the 
trial and condemnation of prizes. In December, 
1775, Con^gress commissioned several other vessels, 
amounting to thirteen. And thus commenced our 
gallant navy; which now consists of eleven ships of 
the line, seventy-four and one hundred and twenty 
guns ; one ship razeed, fifty-four guns ; fourteen 
frigates first class, forty-four guns; two frigates 

* Joseph Wheaton was the Sergeant-at-Arms of the 
House, when the seat of Government was removed to 
this city, and resided here for several years, 
Gl 



196 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

second class, thirty-six guns ; eighteen sloops of 
war, sixteen to twenty guns ; two brigs of war, 
ten guns; four schooners, four to ten guns; four 
steamers ; three store ships ; three receiving ves- 
sels, and five small schooners, making in all sixty- 
seven vessels. 

There are two dry docks, one at Norfolk and 
one at Charlestown, constructed of hewn granite. 
The former cost $872,220, and the latter $652,482. 

ATTORNEY GENERAl's OFFICE. 

This office was created in 1789. The Attor- 
ney General is a member of the cabinet, and 
holds his office at the will of the President. It is 
his duty to prosecute and conduct all suits in the 
Supreme Court, in which the Government is con- 
cerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon 
questions of law, when required by the President, 
or requested by the heads of any of the depart- 
ments, touching any matter that may concern their 
departments. His salary is $4,000 per annum. 



This office was organized in 1789, and is under 
the superintendence of the Postmaster General, 
who is now a member of the cabinet. He is 
aided in the discharge of his duties by two Assist- 
ants, who are appointed by the President and Se- 
nate. He has the sole appointment of all Post- 
masters throughout the United States ; the making 
of all contracts for carrying the mails; the super- 
intendence of the business connected with mail 



POST OFFICE DEPARTxMENT. 197 

depredations; the payment of balances due by 
Postmasters ; the bank accounts of the depart- 
ment, and all other matters in relation to its ad- 
ministration, not committed to his Assistants. His 
salary is $6,000 per annum. 

The First Assistant Postmaster General ar- 
ranges the connexions of the mails on all the mail 
routes in the United States ; regulates their speed, 
the frequency of their trips, and mode of convey- 
ance; advertises for mail service; receives propo- 
sals, and prepares them for the action of the Post- 
master General. He attends to the execution of 
contracts ; prepares for decision all propositions for 
changes in mail service ; fixes on the location of 
distributing post offices; provides and sends out 
mail bags, locks and keys, and performs all acts 
appertaining to post roads, «&c. All letters relating 
to these several duties are addressed to this officer. 
His salary is $2,500 per annum; and his office is 
called the Contract Office, 

The Second Assistant Postmaster General at- 
tends to all matters relating to the establishment 
and discontinuance of post offices, changes of sites 
and names, appointment and removal of Postmas- 
ters, under the direction of the Postmaster Gen- 
eral, and all matters relating to the reception, pro- 
per management, and distribution of the mails. 
He is appointed by the President and Senate ; and 
all letters relating to the duties abovementioned, 
and all recommendations of, and complaints against 
Postmasters, are to be addressed to him. His sa- 
lary is $2,500 per annum, and his office is called 
the Api^ointment Office. 
g2 



198 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Third Assistant. Postmaster General. This 
officer receives and sends letters and packages in 
relation to the business of the office, free of postage. 
His salary is $2,500 per annum, and his office is 
called the Inspectio?i Office. 

The Auditor of the General Post Office is ap- 
pointed by the President and Senate, and receives 
$3,000 per annum. His duty is to audit and set- 
tle all accounts of the Post Office Department, and 
to certify the balances to the Postmaster General; 
he is required to report to the Postmaster General 
the official forms of papers to be used by Post- 
masters and other officers of the department ; the 
manner and form of keeping and stating its ac- 
counts; to keep and preserve all accounts, with 
the vouchers, after settlement; to report promptly 
all delinquences of Postmasters : close the account 
of the department quarterly, and transmit to the 
Secretary of the Treasury quarterly statements of 
its receipts and expenditures; enforce prompt pay- 
ment of moneys due to the department ; institute 
suits for the recovery of balances due, and cause 
them to be prosecuted to judgment and execution, 
or direct suits in chancery, &c. 

All Postmasters whose pay exceeds one thou- 
sand dollars per annum, must be appointed by the 
President and Senate. 

POSTAGE. 

Rates of postage, as established by the act of 



Congress of 3d March, 1825, and the amendator 



act of 2d March, 1827. 
For single letters composed of one piece of paper 



POSTAGE. 199 

Miles. Cents. 
Any distance not exceeding - 30 6 

Over 30, and not exceeding - 80 10 

Over 80, do. do. - 150 12^ 

Over 150, do. do. - 400 18} 

Over 400, 25 

Double letters, or those composed of two pieces 
of paper, are charged with double those rates. 

Triple letters, or those composed of three pieces 
of paper, are charged with triple those rates. 

Quadruple letters, or those composed of four 
pieces of paper, are charged with quadruple those 
rates. 

One or more pieces of paper, mailed as a letter, 
weighing one ounce, are charged with quadruple 
postage, and at the same rate should the weight be 
greater ; and quadruple postage is charged on ail 
jpackets containing four pieces of paper. 

Newspaper postage. — For each newspaper, not 
carried out of the State, but carried not over one 
hundred miles, one cent. Over one hundred miles, 
and out of the State in which it is published, one- 
and-a-haif cents. 

Magazines and Pamphlets, if published pe- 
riodically, distance not exceeding one hundred 
miles, - " - - - U cents per sheet. 
Ditto. over 100 miles, 2i do. 

If not published periodically, distance not exceed- 
ing 100 miles, - - - 4 do. 
Ditto. over 100 miles, 6 do. 

Small pamphlets, printed on a half or quarter 
sheet of royal, or less size, are charged with half 
those rates. Eight pages quarto are rated as 07ie 
sheet, and all other sizes in the same proportion. 
g3 



200 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

The number of sheets which it contains must 
be printed or written on one of the outer pages of 
every pamphlet or magazine to be sent by mail. 
Where the number of sheets is not truly stated, 
double postage is charged. 

Every thing not coming under the denomina- 
tion of newspapers or pamphlets, is charged with 
letter postage. 

Letters to Canada are forwarded through the 
agents of the United States at Kingston^ Upper 
Canada, and Montreal, Lower Canada, 

The postage on shi'p letters^ if delivered at the 
office where the vessel arrives, is six cents; if con- 
veyed by post, two cents in addition to the ordinary 
postage. 

Any person, other than the Postmaster General, 
or his authorized agents, who shall set up a foot 
or horse post, for the conveyance of letters and 
packets, upon any post road, which is, or may be 
established as such by law, shall incur a penalty 
of not exceeding fifty dollars for every letter or 
packet so carried. 

Privilege of Franking. 

Letters and packets to and from the following 
officers of the Government, are by law received 
and conveyed by post, free of postage : 

The President and Vice President of the United 
States; Secretaries of State, Treasury, War and 
Navy; Attorney General; Postmaster General 
and Assistant Postmasters General; Comptrollers, 
Auditors, Register and Solicitor of the Treasury ; 
Treasurer; Commissioner of General Land Office; 



FRANKING. 201 

Commissioners of Navy Board ; Commissary Gen- 
eral ; Inspectors General ; Gluartermaster Gen- 
eral, Paymaster General, Superintendent of Patent 
Office, Speaker and Clerk of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and Secretary of the Senate, and such 
individual who shall have been, or may hereafter 
be, President of the United States ; and each may 
receive newspapers by post, free of postage. 

Each member of the Senate, and each member 
and delegate of the House of Representatives, may 
send and receive, free of postage, newspapers, let- 
ters and packets, weighing not more than two 
ounces, (in case of excess of weight, excess alone 
to be paid for,) and all documents printed by order 
of either House, during, and sixty days before and 
after each session of Congress. 

Postmasters may send and receive, free of pos- 
tage, letters and packets not exceeding half an 
ounce in weight, and they may receive one daily 
newspaper, each, or what is equivalent thereto. 

Printers of newspapers may send one paper to 
each and every other printer of newspapers withir 
the United States, free of postage, under such re- 
gulations as the Postmaster General may provide. 

Violation of Franking Privilege. 

Any person who shall frank any letter or let- 
ters, other than those written by himself or by his 
order, on the business of his office, shall, on con- 
viction thereof, pay a fine of ten dollars ; and it is 
made the especial duty of Postmasters to prosecute 
for such offence. The law provides, however, 
that the Secretaries of State, Treasury, War and 
Navy, and Postmaster General, may frank letters 
g4 



202 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

or packets on official business, prepared in any 
other public office in the absence of the principal 
thereof. 

If any person, having the right to receive letters 
free of postage, shall receive, enclosed to him, any 
letter or packet addressed to a person not having 
that right, it is his duty to return the same to the 
Post Office, marking thereon the place fro m whence 
it came, that it may be charged with postage. 

Any person who shall counterfeit the hand- 
Avriting or frank of any person, or cause the same 
to be done, in order to avoid the payment of pos- 
tage, shall, for each offence, pay five hundred dol- 
lars. 

No Postmaster or assistant Postmaster can act 
as agent for lottery offices, under any color of pur- 
chase, or otherwise vend lottery tickets, nor can 
any Postmaster receive free of postage, or frank 
any lottery scheme, circulars, or tickets. For a 
violation of this provision of the law, the persons 
offi3nding shall suffer a penalty of fifty dollars. 

No Postmaster, assistant Postmaster, or clerk 
employed in any JPost Office, can be a contractor, 
or concerned in any contract for carrying the mail. 



CONGRESS. 

This is the forty-first year that Congress has 
assembled in the city of Washington, and for that 
space of time it has been the seat of the Federal 
Government. The first President who lived in it 
was John Adams, and who came with the Govern- 
ment when its scat was removed from Philadelphia 



CONGRESS. 2Q3 

to Washington, then but little else than a forest, 
the principal avenues being formed by cutting 
openings through it. General Washington fre- 
quently visited it while in progress, before it be- 
came the seat of Government, and often expressed 
his admiration of the beauty of its locality. 

The first session of Congress commenced on 
the 4th of March, 1789, and terminated on the 
29th of September, of the same year. There have 
been, up to 1841, sixty-two sessions, including five 
extra sessions; one in the year 1797, under the 
presidency of John Adams, which continued for 
fifty-seven days ; one in 1809, under the presidency 
of James Madison, of thirty-eight days duration ; 
one in 1813, under the same President, of seven- 
ty-one days duration; one in 1837, under the pre- 
sidency of Martin Van Buren, of forty-two days 
duration; and one in 1841, under the presidency 
of John Tyler, of one hundred and five days dura- 
tion. The two longest regular sessions were in 
the years 1797 and 1811, which lasted two hun- 
dred and forty-six days each. Several of these 
sessions commenced earlier than the usual period, 
viz : in September, October, and November. 

Names of the Speakers of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, who have been chosen since the forma- 
tion of the Government: Frederick A. Muhlen- 
berg, Jonathan Trumbull, Jonathan Dayton, Theo- 
dore Sedgwick, Nathaniel Macon, Joseph B. Var- 
num, Henry Clay, Langdon Cheeves, John W. 
Taylor, Philip P. Barbour, Andrew Stevenson, 
John Bell, James K. Polk, R. M. T. Hunter, John 
White. Of these, Mr. Muhlenberg was chosen 
twice, Mr. Dayton twice, Mr. Macon three times, 
g5 



204 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

Mr. Varnum twice, Mr. Clay six times, Mr. 
Cheeves twice, Mr. Taylor twice, Mr. Stevenson 
four times, and Mr. Polk twice. The rest presided 
during but one Congress. 

The Congress of the United States consists of a 
Senate and House of Representatives, and must 
assemble at least once a year, on the first Monday 
in December, unless othervi^ise provided by law. 

The Senate is composed of two members from 
each State; and, of course, the present regular 
number is fifty-two. 

They are chosen by the Legislatures of the 
several States, for the term of six years, one-third 
of them being elected biennially. 

The Vice-President of the United States is the 
President of the Senate, in which body he has only 
a casting vote, which is given in case of an equal 
division of the votes of the Senators. In his 
absence, a President pro tempore is chosen by the 
Senate. 

The House of Representatives is co^.iposed of 
members from the Several States, elected by the 
people for the term of two years. The Repre- 
sentatives are apportioned among the different 
States according to population; and one Repre- 
sentative being returned for every 47,700 per- 
sons, computed according to the rule prescribed 
by the Constitution, The present regular num- 
ber is two hundred and forty-two Representatives, 
and three Delegates. 

The compensation of the members of the Senate 
and House of Representatives, is eight dollars a 
day, during the period of their attendance in Con- 
gress, without deduction in case of sickness; and 



CONGRESS. 205 

eight dollars for every twenty miles' travel, in the 
usual road, in going to and returning from the seat 
of Government. The compensation of the Presi- 
dent of the Senate pro tempore, and of the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives is sixteen dollars 
a day. 

EXTRACT OF THE RULES OF THE SENATE. 

The unfinished business in which the Senate 
was engaged at the last preceding adjournment, 
shall have the preference in the special orders of 
the day. 

On a motion made and seconded to shut the 
doors of the Senate, on the discussion of any busi- 
ness which may, in the opinion of a member, re- 
quire secrecy, the President shall direct the gallery 
to be cleared ; and during the discussion of such 
motion, the doors shall remain shut. 

The special orders of the day shall not be called 
by the Chair before one o'clock, unless otherwise 
directed. 

All confidential communications, made by the 
President of the United States to the Senate, shall 
be by the members thereof kept secret ; and all 
treaties which may be laid before the Senate, shall 
also be kept secret until the Senate shall, by their 
resolution, take off the injunction of secrecy. 

When nominations shall be made in writing by 
the President of the United States, a future day 
shall be assigned, unless the Senate unanimously 
directs otherwise, for taking them into considera- 
tion. 

All information or remarks, touching or con- 
g6 



206 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

cerning the character or qualifications of any per- 
son nominated by the President to office, shall be 
kept secret. 

When any question may have been decided by 
the Senate, in which two-thirds of the members 
present are necessary to carry the affirmative, any 
member who votes on that side which prevailed in 
the question, may be at liberty to move for a recon- 
sideration ; and a motion for reconsideration shall 
be decided by a majority of votes. 

The Secretary of the Senate, the Sergeant-at- 
Arms and Door-Keeper, and the assistant Door- 
Keeper, shall be chosen on the second Monday of 
the first session of each Congress. 

COMMITTEES OF THE SENATE. 

There are twenty-two standing committees of 
the Senate, appointed at the commencement of each 
session of Congress ; nineteen consist of five mem- 
bers, and three of three members each. In the 
appointment of the standing committees, the Senate 
proceeds by ballot, severally, to appoint the chair- 
man of each committee, and then, by ballot, the 
other members necessary to complete the same ; 
and a majority of the whole number of votes 
given is necessary to the choice of a chairman of 
a standing committee. All other committees are 
appointed by ballot, and a plurality of votes makes 
a choice. All bills on a second reading are consi- 
dered by the Senate in the same manner as if the 
Senate were in committee of the whole, before 
they can be taken up and proceeded on by the Se- 
nate, unless otherwise ordered. 



CONGRESS. 207 

COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA- 
TIVES. 

All committees are appointed by the Speaker, 
unless otherwise especially directed by the House; 
in which case they are appointed by ballot; and if 
upon the first ballot the number required shall not 
be elected by a majority of all the votes given, the 
House then proceeds to a second ballot, when a 
plurality of votes prevails. There are thirty stand- 
ing committees in the House of Representatives; 
twenty-one consisting of nine members, and nine 
of five members each. Twenty-three of these 
committees are appointed at the commencement of 
each session, and continue for one session only; 
six are appointed at the commencement of each 
Congress, and continue to the first session of the 
succeeding Congress. All the standing commit- 
tees have leave to report by bill or othervv ise, upon 
any matter committed to them. 

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE. 

It is a standing order of the day, throughout the 
session, for the House to resolve itself into a com- 
mittee of the whole House on the state of the Union, 
in which every proposition for a charge upon the 
people, and for appropriations of money, must be 
first discussed. 

No sum or quantum of tax or duty, voted by a 
committee of the whole House, can be increased in 
the House, until the motion or proposition for such 
increase shall be first discussed and voted in a 
committee of the whole House, and so in respect to 
the time of its continuance. 
g7 



208 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

ORDER OF BUSINESS OF THE DAY. 

As soon as the journal is read, the Speaker shall 
call for petitions from the members of each State, 
and delegates from each Territory, beginning with 
Maine; and if, on any day, the whole of the States 
and Territories shall not be called, the Speaker 
shall begin on the next day where he left off the 
previous day. Provided, that after the first thirty 
days of the session, petitions shall not be received 
except on the first day of the meeting of the House 
in each week. 

The petitions having been presented and dis- 
posed of, reports, first from the standing, and then 
from the select committees, shall be called for 
and disposed of And not more than one hour in 
each day shall be devoted to the subject of reports 
from committees, and resolutions; after which the 
Speaker shall dispose of the bills, messages, and 
communications, on his table, and then proceed to 
call the orders of the day. The business specified 
in the two preceding rules shall be done at no 
other part of the day, except by permission of the 
House. 

LOCAL OR PRIVATE BUSINESS. 

Friday and Saturday in every week shall be set 
apart for the consideration of private bills and pri- 
vate business, in preference to any other, unless 
otherwise determined by a majority of the House. 

THE STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE ARE, 

1. A committee of Elections, to examine and 
report upon the certificates of election or other cre- 
dentials of the members, and to take into conside- 



CONGRESS. :^o. 

ration all petitions and other matters touching elec- 
tions and returns. 

2. Committee on Ways and Means, to consider 
reports of the Treasury Department, and all mat- 
ters relating- to the revenue; to inquire into the 
state of the public debts, revenue and expenditures; 
to examine into the condition of the public depart- 
ments, and particularly the lav/s making appro- 
priations, and whether the moneys have been dis- 
bursed agreeably to law ; to report from time to 
time such measures as may add to the economy 
of the departments and the accountability of their 
officers; must not include in the bills they may 
prepare appropriations for carrying into effect trea- 
ties made by the United States; and must exclude 
such appropriations from bills referred to them. 

3. A committee of Claims, to consider all mat- 
ters touching claims and demands upon the United 
States. 

4. A committee on Commerce, to consider all 
petitions and matters touching the commerce of 
the United States. 

5. A committee on the Public Lands, to consi- 
der all petitions and matters respecting the lands 
of the United States. 

6. A committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, 
to consider all petitions, resolutions, and matters 
relating to post offices and post roads. 

7. A committee on the District of Columbia, 
to consider petitions and matters relating to that 
District. 

8. A committee on the Judiciary, to consider all 
petitions and ma-tters relating to judicial proceed- 
ings. 

g8 



210 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON, 

9. A committee on Revolutionary Claims, to con- 
sider petitions, matters or things touching claims 
and demands originating in or arising from the 
Revolutionary war. 

10. A committee on Public Expenditures, to 
examine into the state of the several departments, 
and particularly into the laws making appropria- 
tions of moneys ; to report whether they have been 
disbursed according to law, and such provisions as 
may be necessary to add to the economy of the 
departments and the accountability of their officers. 

1 1. A committee on Private Land Claims, to 
consider all claims to lands. 

12. A committee on Manufactures. 

13. A committee on Agriculture. 

14. A committee on Indian Affairs. 

(No specific duties are assigned to those com- 
mittees.) 

15. A committee on Military Affairs, to consi- 
der all subjects relating to the military establish- 
ment and public defence ; and to report from time 
to time such measures as may contribute to econo- 
my and accountability in this establishment. 

16. A committee on the Militia, to consider all 
subjects in relation to the militia of the United 
States. 

17. A committee on Naval Affairs, to consider 
all matters which concern the naval establishment ; 
and, also, to report, from time to time, such mea- 
sures as may contribute to economy and account- 
ability in the said establishment. 

18. A committee on Foreign Affairs, to consi- 
der all matters which concern the relations of the 
United States with foreign nations. 



CONGRESS. 211 

19. A committee on the Territories, to examine 
into their legislative, civil, and criminal proceed- 
ings, and to devise and report to the House such 
means as, in their opinion, may be necessary to 
secure the rights and privileges of residents and 
non-residents. 

20. A committee on Revolutionary Pensions, to 
consider all matters respecting pensions for services 
in the Revolutionary war, other than invalid pen- 
sions. 

21. A committee on Invalid Pensions, to consi- 
der all matters respecting invalid pensions. 

22. A committee on Roads and Canals, to con- 
sider all petitions and matters or things relating to 
roads and canals, and the improvement of the navi- 
gation of rivers. 

23. A committee of Revisal and Unfinished 
Business, to examine and report what laws have, 
or are near expiring, and require to be revived or 
further continued ; also, to examine and report from 
the journal of last session, all such matters as were 
then depending and undetermined. 

24. A committee of Accounts, to superintend 
and control the expenditures of the contingent fund 
of the House of Representatives, and to audit and 
settle all accounts which may be charged thereon ; 
and to audit the accounts of the members for their 
travel to and from the seat of Government, and 
their attendance in the House. 

Committees on so much of the Public Accounts 
and Expenditures — 

25. As relates to the Department of State. 

26. As relates to the Treasury Department, 

27. As relates to the Department of War. 



212 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

28. As relates to the Navy Department. 

29. As relates to the Post Office. 

30. As relates to the Public Buildings. 

These six committees are appointed at the com- 
mencement of a Congress, and continue to the first 
session of the succeeding Congress. They are re- 
quired to examine into the accounts and expendi- 
tures submitted to them respectively ; and to in- 
quire and report whether the expenditures of the 
respective departments are according to law; 
whether the claims paid by them are supported by 
sufficient vouchers ; whether they have been dis- 
charged out of the funds appropriated therefore, and 
whether all moneys have been disbursed conforma- 
bly to appropriation laws; what provisions are ne- 
cessary more effectually to provide for the proper 
application of the public moneys, and to secure the 
Government from unjust and extravagant demands. 
To report also whether any, and what retrench- 
ments can be safely made in the expenditures of 
the departments; what abuses, if any, exist in the 
failure to enforce the payment of money due to the 
United States from public defaulters or others, and 
such provisions as may be necessary to add to the 
economy of the several departments, and the ac- 
countability of their officers. 



APPENDIX. 



EXECUTIVE OFFICERS. 

John Tyler, President. $25,000 

Samuel L. Southard, Vice-President 5,000 

STATE DEPARTMENT. 

Daniel Webster, Secretary ,f 6,000 

Fletcher Webster, chief clerk 2,000 

Patent Office. 

Henry L. Ellsworth, Commissioner $3,000 

Joseph W. Hand, chief clerk 1,700 

Charles M. Keller, chief examiner 1,500 

TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 

Walter Forward, Secretary... ., $6,000 

McClintock Young, chief clerk 2,000 

James N. Barker, First Comptroller 3,500 

James Larned, chief clerk 1,700 

Albion K. Parris, Second Comptroller 3,000 

Jonathan Seaver, chief clerk 1,700 

Jesse Miller, First Auditor 3,000 

Alexander Mahon, chief clerk 1,700 

William B. Lewis, Second Auditor 3,000 

James Eakin, chief clerk 1,700 

Peter Hagner, Third Auditor 3,000 

James Thompson, chief clerk 1,700 

Aaron O. Dayton, Fourth Auditor 3,000 

Thomas H. Gilliss, chief clerk 1,700 

Stephen Pleasonton, Fifth Auditor 3,000 

Thomas Mustin, chief clerk 1,700 

Thomas L. Smith, Register 3,000 

Michael Nourse, chief clerk 1,700 



214 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

William Selden, Treasurer .^3,000 

William B. Randolph, chief clerk 1,700 

Charles B. Pem-ose, Solicitor 3,500 

General hand Office. 

Elisha M. Huntington, Commissioner ,*|3,000 

John M. Moore, chief clerk 1,800 

Charles Hopkins, Solicitor , 2,000 

John Williamson, Recorder 2,000 

Joseph S. Wilson, chief clerk, private lands 1,800 

William T. Steiger, chief clerk of surveys 1,800 

Ephraim Gilman, principal draughtsman 1,500 

WAR DEPARTMENT. 

John G. Spencer, Secretary $6,000 

Daniel Parker, chief clerk 2,000 

Indian Biireau. 

T. Hartly Crawford, Commissioner $3,000 

Daniel Kurtz, chief clerk 1,600 

Pension Bureau. 

James L, Edwards, Commissioner $2,500 

George W. Crump, chief clerk 1,600 

Army. 

Winfiold Scott, Major-General $6,535 

Aids-de-camp, Captains Aldcn and Kerney 1,594 

Roger Jones, Adjutant-General 3,234 

Brook Williams," chief clerk 1,200 

Thomas S. Jcsup, Quartermaster-General 

William A, Gordon, chief clerk 1,600 

John C. Goolrich, clerk clothing bureau 1,000 

George Gibson, Commissary Gen'l. of Subsistence 3,138 

Richard Gott, chief clerk 1,600 

Nathan Tovvson, Paymaster-General 2,500 

Nathaniel Frye, chief clerk 1,700 

Thomas Lawson, Surgeon General 2,500 

J. G. Totten, Colonel Engineer Office 2,958 

John J. Abert, Colonel Topographical Bureau.... 2,958 

George Thompson, chief clerk 1,4'iO 



APPENDIX. 215 

George Bomford, Colonel of Ordnance f$3,138 

A. Mordecai Captain do 1,594 

George Bender, chief clerk 1,200 

NAVY DEPARTMENT. 

Abel P. Upshur, Secretary ^6,000 

John D. Simms, chief clerk , 2,000 

Lewis Warrington, Navy Commissioner 3,500 

William M. Crane do 3,500 

David Conner do 3,500 

Charles W. Goldsborough, Secretary 2,000 

William G. Ridgely, chief clerk 1,600 

Navy Yard. 

Beverly Kennon, Captain Commandant $3,500 

G. J. Pendergrast, Commander 2,100 

E. B. Boutwell, First Lieutenant 1,500 

Cary Selden, Naval Storekeeper 1,700 

W. B. Scott, Navy Agent... 2,000 

GENERAL POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 

Charles A. WicklifFe, Postmaster General $6,000 

John Marron, chief clerk 2,000 

Selah R. Hobbie, Contract Office, First Assistant 

Postmaster General 2,500 

William H. Dundas, principal clerk 1,000 

Henry A. Burr, Topographer 1,600 

Philo C. Fuller, Appointment Office, Second As. 

sistant Postmaster General 2,500 

Eben L. Childs, principal clerk 1,600 

John S. Skinner, Inspection Office, Third Assist- 
ant Postmaster General 2,500 

Thomas B. Addison, principal clerk 1,600 

Elisha Whittlesey, Auditor General Post Office.. 3,000 

Peter G. Washington, chief clerk 2,000 

CITY POST OFFICE. 

William Jones, Postmaster .$2,000 

George Sweeny, Assistant Postmaster 1,700 

ATTORNEY GENERAL. 
Hugh S.Legare $4,000 



216 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON^ 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice, Baltimore, Md... $5,000 

Joseph Story, Associate Justice, Cambridge, Mass. 4,500 

Smith Thompson do New- York 4,500 

John McLean do Cincinnati, Ohio.... 4,500 

Henry Baldwin do Pittsburg, Penn 4,500 

James M. Wayne do Savannah, Georgia. 4,500 

John Catron do Nashville, Tenn..... 4,500 

John McKinley do Florence, Alabama, 4,500 

Peter V. Daniel do Richmond, Virginia. 4,500 

Hugh S. Legare, Att'y Gen. Washington, D. C. 4,000 

William T. Carroll, Clerk Washington, D. C. Fees. 

Alexander Hunter, Marshal.. Washington, D. C. Fees. 

CIRCUIT COURT, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

William Cranch, Chief Judge $2,700 

B. Thruston, Associate Judge 2,500 

J. S. Morsell do 2,500 

Philip R. Fendall, United States Attorney Fees. 

Alexander Hunter, Marshal Fees. 

William Brent, Clerk, Washington Fees. 

Edmund I. Lee, Clerk, Alexandria Fees. 

CRIMINAL COURT. 

James Dunlop, Judge $2,000 

Philip R. Fendall, Attorney. I William Brent, Clerk. 
Alexander Hunter, Marshal, j T. Woodward, Coroner. 

THE orphans' COURT. 

N. P. Causin, Judge $1,000 

E. N. Roach, Register of Wills Fees. 

PENITENTIARY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

Thomas Sewall, Washington, Inspector $ 250 

Bernard Hooe, Alexandria do 250 

Thomas Donolio, Washington do 250 

John B. Dade, Warden 1,500 

Noble Young, Physician 400 

William Wheatley, clerk 1,000 

John A. Young, assistant keeper 750 

J. C. David do 750 



APPENDIX* 217 



OFFICERS OF SENATE. 

Asbury Dickins, Secretary « $3,000 

Lewis H. Machen, principal clerk 1,800 

Edward Dyer, Sergeant-at.Arms...»» 1,500 

Robert Beale, assistant doorkeeper 1,450 

OFFICERS HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES. 

Matthew St. Clair Clarke, Clerk $3,000 

Samuel Burche, principal clerk... 1,800 

E. M. Townsend, Sergeant-at-Arms 1,500 

Joseph Follansbee, Doorkeeper 1,500 

William J. McCormick, Postmaster 1,500 

David H. Burr, Draughtsman .per month. 125 

John S. Meehan, Librarian of Congress $1,500 

William Noland, Commissioner Public Buildings. 2,000 
Robert Mills, Architect 2,500 

Police, 

David M. Wilson, principal guard $1,450 

James M. Waller, assistant 1,100 

Thomas Scrivener .do 1»100 

Isaac H. Wailes do 1,100 

John Wirt do 1,100 

James Maher, principal gardener, in the public 

grounds 1,200 

DIPLOMATIC AGENTS ACCREDITED TO THE 
GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary, 

From Great Britain Henry S. Fox. 

From Franco M. Ad. de Bacourt. 

From Russia M. Alexandre de Bodisco. 

From Spain The Chev . A. P d' Argaiz. 

From Argentine Confederation, Brigadier General Don 
Carlos Maria de Alvear. 

Charges d^ Affaires, 

From Netherlands Chev. Adr. Martini. 

From Portugal... J. C. de Figaniere e Mordao. 



218 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 

From Belgium M. Charles Serruys. 

From Denmark M. Steen de Bille. 

From Sweden Chevalier de Nordin. 

From Prussia Baron de Roenne. 

From Sardinia Count de Colobiano. 

From Texas Bernard E. Bee. 

From Brazil Chevalier Gasper Jose Lisboa. 

Foreign Consuls resident in the District of Co- 
lumbia. 
Christopher Neale, Brazil, Denmark, and Portugal. 
Ant. C. Cazanove, Bremen. 
C. .Tean Cazanove, Russia. 
John H. Brent, Sweden and Norway. 
N. E. Fowle, Two Sicilies. 

Ministers of the United States in foreign Coun- 
tries* 

App^d. Country, Capital. 
Edward Everett, Mass. 1841. G. Britain. .London. 

Lewis Cass, Ohio 1336. France Paris, 

Charles S. Todd, Ohio. 1841. Russia...... St. Petersburgh. 

Henry Wheaton, N. Y.1837.Prussia Berlin. 

Daniel Jenifer, Md 1841. Austria Vienna. 

W. Thompson, S. C....1841.Mexico Mexico. 

William Hunter, R. I. ..1841. Brazil Rio. de Jeneiro. 

Minister Resident. 
David Porter, Penn 1839.Turkey Constantinople. 

Secretaries of Legation. 

Henry Ledyard, to France $2,000 

J. Lathrop Motley, to Russia 2,000 

T. R. Morris, to Prussia 2,000 

John R. Clay, to Austria 2,000 

* The pay of Ministers Plenipotentiary is ,$9,000 per 
annum salary, and an outfit of $9,000 ; that of Charges 
d' Affaires is $4,500 salary ; that of resident ministers 
$6,000 ; and that of Secretaries of Legation $2,000 per 
annum. 



APPENDIX. 219 

Brantz Mayer, to Mexico.. ^2.000 

R. M. Walsh, to Brazil 2,000 

American Charges cV Affaires. 

App'd. Country. Capital, 

Aaron Vail 1840. ..Spain Madrid. 

Virgil Maxcy 1837 . . . Belgium Brussels. 

J. R. Jackson 1841. ..Denmark Copenhagen. 

Chrit. Hughes — 1830. ..Sweden »fcNorway.Stockholm. 

H. Bleecker 1839. ..Holland.. Hague. 

Ambrose Baber. . .1841 . . . Sardinia Turin. 

W. Barrow 184 1 . . . Portugal Lisbon. 

Wm. Boulware.... 1841. ..Two Sicilies Naples. 

James C. Pickett.l838...Peru Lima. 

J. S. Pendleton... 1841. ..Cliile Sant-Iago. 

Allen A. Hall 1841. ..Venezuela Caraccas. 

James Semple 1837.. .New Grenada Bogota. 

Joseph Eve 1841. ..Texas Austin. 

Note. — There are about one hundred and sixty Ame- 
rican consuls at foreign ports ; of whom, it is stated, but 
forty-eight are citizens of the United States ; and out of 
thirty-four consuls appointed to the ports of Great Bri. 
tain and her Colonies, orAj five are American citizens. 
This should not be allowed, as much injury might grow 
out of it, by placing our commercial interests abroad in 
the power of rival commercial nations. 



220 



GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 



EPITOME of the whole Population of the States and Territories of 
the United States, exhibiting the general aggregate amount of each 
description of persons by classes. 



FREE WHITE PERS0N8. 



Males. 



Females. 



Under S years of age, 
Of 5 and under 10, 
Of 10 and under 15, 
Of 15 and under 20, 
Of 20 and under 30, 
Of 30 and under 40, 
Of 40 and under 50 
Of 50 and under 60, 
Of 60 and under 70, 
Of 70 and under 80, 
Of 80 and under 90, 
Of 90 and under 100, 
Of 100 and upwards, 

Total number of free 



1,270,790 


Under 5 years of age. 


1,203,349 


1,024,072 


Of 5 and under 10, 


986,921 


879,499 


Of 10 and under 15, 


836,588 


756,022 


Of 15 and under 20, 


792,168 


1,322,440 


Of 20 and under 30, 


1,253,395 


866,431 


Of 30 and under 40, 


779,097 


536,568 


Of 40 and under 50, 


502,143 


314,505 


Of 50 and under 60, 


304,810 


174,226 


Of 60 and under 70, 


173,299 


80,051 


Of 70 and under 80, 


80,562 


21,679 


Of 80 and under 90, 


23,964 


2,507 


Of 90 and under 100, 


3,231 


476 


Of 100 and upwards, 


315 


7,249,266 


6,939,842 


white pei-sc 


nS) 


• 14,189,\P3 



FREE COLORED PERSONS. 



Males. 

Under 10 years of age, 
Of 10 and under 24, 
Of 24 and under 36, 
Of 36 and under 55, 
Of 55 and under 100, 
Of 100 and upwards. 



56,323 
52,799 
35,308 
28,258 
13,493 



186,467 



Females. 

Under 10 years of age, 
Of 10 and under 24, 
Of 24 and under 36, 
Of 36 and under 55, 
Of 55 and under 100, 
Of 100 and upwards. 



Total number of free colored persons, 



65,069 
56,562 
41,673 
30,385 
15,728 
361 

199,778 
386,245 



Males. 

Under 10 years of age, 422,599 
Of 10 and under 24, 391,131 

Of 24 and under 36, 235,373 

Of 36 and under 55, 145,264 

Of 55 and under 100, 51,288 

Of 100 and upwards, 753 

1,346,408 
Total number of slaves, - - • 



Females. 

Under 10 years of age, 
Of 10 and under 24, 
Of 24 and under 36, 
Of 36 and under 55, 
Of 55 and under 100, 
Of 100 and upwards, 



Total aggregate 



421,470 
300,075 
239,787 
139,201 
49,692 
580 
1,240,805 
- 2,487,213 

017,062,566 



APPENDIX. 221 



White persons included in the foregoing, who are deaf and 

dumb, under 14 years of age, ----------- 1,919 

AVhite persons included in the foregoing, who are deaf and 

dumb, of 14 and under 25, 2,056 

White persons included in the forgegoing, who are deaf and 

dumb, over 25, 2,707 

White persons inchided in the foregoing, who are blind, - - 5,024 
White persons included in the foregoing, who are insane and 

idiots at public charge, ------..-.--- 4,329 

White persons included m the foregoing, who are insane and 

idiots at private charge, -..------.-.- 10,179 

Slaves and colored persons included in the foregoing, who are 

deaf and dumb, - 977 

Slaves and colored persons included in the foregoing, who are 

blind, 1,892 

Slaves and colored persons included in the foregoing, who are 

insane and idiots at private charge, --------- 2,093 

Slaves and c ilored persons included in the foregoing, who are 

itisane and idiots at public charge, --------- 833 

Total number of persons employed in mining, ----- 15,203 

Total number of persons employed in agriculture, - - - -3,717,756 

Total number of persons employed in commerce, - . - - 117,575 
Total number of persons employed in manufactures and 

trades, 791,545 

Total number of persons employed in the navigation of the 

ocean, - 56,025 

Total number of persons employed in navigation of canals, 

lakes, and rivers, ---------..---- 33,067 

I'otal number of persons employed in learned professions, - 65,236 
Total number of pensioners for revolutionary or military ser- 
vices, 20,797 

Total number of universities or colleges, - ------- 173 

Total number of students in universities or colleges, - - - ^ 16,233 

Total number of academies and grammar schools, - - - - 3,242 

Total number of students in academies and gi-ammar schools, 164,159 

Total number of primary and common schools, - ----- 47,209 

Total number of scholars in common schools, ----- -1,845,244 

Total number of scholars at pubhc charge, ------- 468,264 

Total number of white persons over twenty years of age who 

cannot read and write, ------------- 549,693 

a Total number of persons on board of vessels of war in the United 
States naval service, June 1, 1840, 6,100 : to this must be added 786 as 

cei-tained by a new census to have been omitted in the former returns 

in Montgomery county, Maryland, making the total aggregate popula- 
tion of the United States, 17,069 452. 



ERRATA. 

Justices of the Peace for the County of Washington, 
whose names are omitted in the list, page 147 : 



James Marshall, 
Edward Mattingly, 
George Naylor, 



B. F. Mackall, 
John I. Stall. 



H 70 



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